Bluey Blog - Official Blog of Robert B. Bluey

Romney Press Shop Unmatched in Debate Spin

I can sympathize with Mark Steyn, who had this to say about the proliferation of e-mails around debate time:

Mitt’s guys clogged up my in-box with so many urgent releases in the hours after last night’s debate that it’s seriously impacting my ability to order generic Viagra and e-mail my bank details to Nigerian dictators’ wives.

The e-mails came pouring into my inbox last night as well. In fact, I just went back and counted.

Mitt Romney: A total of 35, some of which were duplicates, came to my two e-mail accounts. They came in under headings such as “research briefing,” “what they’re really saying,” “press release” and “Romney record.” The most clever were the four “YouTube statements” from Romney surrogates, which can be found on Romney’s Debate Central page. The e-mails came from spokesman Kevin Madden (pictured above), blog guru Stephen Smith and a generic Romney Press Shop address.

John McCain: A total of 15 e-mails, mostly from new-media consultant Patrick Hynes, who sent snippets of blog reaction during the debate, and also from campaign press flack Brian Rogers, who hit me with a couple e-mails at the end of the night.

Rudy Giuliani: Nine. All came from Katie Harbath, who works in the communications shop. They were a combination of “fact check” and “what they’re saying” messages. On another note, Giuliani’s campaign was the only one to contact me in advance of the debate to schedule an interview with surrogates Peter King and Bill Paxon. I had to write the other four campaigns to inquire about interviews.

Fred Thompson: I received six e-mails, half of them coming from Jon Henke at New Media Strategies, two from campaign manager Bill Lacy and the last one from a generic Friends of Fred Thompson account that targeted me because I live in Virginia. It obviously worked, prompting me to write about the campaign’s George Allen videos.

Mike Huckabee: One lone e-mail from research director Joe Carter, which he cleverly titled, “The Inevitable Post-Debate Campaign Spin Email.” To Joe’s credit, it was the most personalized of any I got all night.

There’s no right or wrong approach in my opinion. As someone who prefers e-mail — because it’s the best way to ensure I’ll read something — I can’t fault Romney’s campaign for bombarding me. The multiple versions are somewhat annoying, but I’d rather get more than less so I don’t miss anything.

As for the campaigns that don’t put as much emphasis on e-mail, they might be concentrating their resources elsewhere. Zephyr Teachout at techPresident praised Huckabee’s team for the best post-debate website, giving Thompson second place in that category. Perhaps the time they’re not spending on e-mails frees up their ability to add content to the website.