29 Nov, 2007

Romney Press Shop Unmatched in Debate Spin

Posted by: Rob Bluey In: Media| Politics

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.

5 Responses to "Romney Press Shop Unmatched in Debate Spin"

1 | ComMITTed to Romney! » This made me laugh…Robert Bluey on Romney’s Post Debate Spin

November 30th, 2007 at 9:33 pm

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[...] —–>Romney Press Shop Unmatched in Debate Spin Mitt‚Äôs guys clogged up my in-box with so many urgent releases in the hours after last night‚Äôs [...]

2 | Max McGowen

December 1st, 2007 at 9:12 pm

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Hey, this is max from IPDI.

Yeah, this is very interesting. But I think that you make the point that the bombardment is effective even if it is almost overwhelming. I do think its important to say that there is no right or wrong approach since they each seem to make their own individualized impacts, though. So I’m not exactly sure of what to make of this but it is certainly worth mulling over. I’m definitely not surprised that the total email counts came in the way they did, though – with Romney leading the pack since I don’t doubt Mindy Finn’s prowess with internet organizing.

3 | Darvin Dowdy

December 2nd, 2007 at 11:49 pm

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And this is the GOP candidates idea of a winning strategy? Its no strategy at all. Is pathetic. So much time and money wasted on such nonsense. The GOP has a new crop of very lazy strategists and advisers. They want to make a killing off of a minimal amount of work instead of building their political ediface brick by brick. They think they can do everything on the internet. When the internet is only one of many tools in the campaigns tool box. Or should be. For most its their only tool. Thats why we’ll lose on ll/4/08 unless we snap out of this insane mindset. DD

4 | Bluey Blog | RobertBluey.com » 2008 » April » 17

April 17th, 2008 at 11:00 am

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[...] also there in good spirits. As I headed out the door, I ran into Romney’s former spokesman, Kevin Madden, who shows up on TV more often now than when Romney was in the [...]

5 | Bluey Blog | RobertBluey.com » Dick Cheney Has a Sense of Humor

April 17th, 2008 at 3:56 pm

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[...] also there in good spirits. As I headed out the door, I ran into Romney’s former spokesman, Kevin Madden, who shows up on TV more often now than when Romney was in the [...]

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