Wired: Dean E-Mail Sends Wrong Message

Howard Dean

Howard Dean's presidential campaign got a lot of mileage out of its savvy use of the Internet for messaging and fundraising, but it seems to have over-reached with its latest effort. The campaign is following up on spam complaints. The message, intended to go to opt-in people interested in Dean materials, appears to have spread to many completely unrelated non-opt-in lists.

As with all good campaign gaffes, some Dean people are already suggesting that perhaps it was all an opposition conspiracy. After all, to think otherwise would be to imply that the email marketing industry was rife with scam artists.

In related news, the New York Times reports that the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign kicked off its site yesterday to help with grass roots organization. The Bush campaign has already raised about $30 million this year, about $1.3 million of that from Internet contributions.