Candidates' E-Mails Have a Bottom Line

The e-mail tricks are not unlike those used for years by their paper-and-ink cousins to persuade recipients to rip open an envelope.

Some political pamphlets arrive in "snail" mailboxes with what appears to be a personal note scrawled across the front. Others have a stamp that says "TIME SENSITIVE. OPEN IMMEDIATELY!" -- giving it the look of an important bill or government notice.

But the clever e-mail subject lines are new to political campaigns, whose online strategists are trying everything they can to maximize the thousands of e-mail addresses they have compiled.

In dozens of campaign e-mails saved by The Washington Post in recent months, e-mails have taken a cue from direct mailers, with intriguing, sometimes downright confounding subject lines that beg to be opened.

One subject line from Democratic candidate Bill Richardson read: "Fwd: Zogby Poll: Half Say They Would Never Vote for Hillary Clinton for President." The e-mail touted the results of a poll that implies that the New Mexico governor is the most likely Democrat to beat a Republican in the general election.

Cindee Badalamente, an Obama supporter and a high school counselor in Phoenix has gotten most of Obama's e-mails, including those from Michelle.

"It confused me a little bit. It looked like I e-mailed Michelle first or something. And, I'm like, 'Wait, I didn't,' " the 43-year-old Democrat said. "The e-mails are trying to stand out; I get that. And that might work for some people, but for me, it's a bit much."

An e-mail from the campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), using the endorsement of a former star quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, carried this subject line: "From Roger Staubach."

In one of the Clinton campaign's most-talked-about -- and in some corners of the blogosphere openly mocked -- recent e-mails, her husband seemed to be making a most unusual come-on to the thousands of e-mail recipients. His subject line? "You, me, a TV, and a bowl of chips."

On Wednesday, his wife e-mailed a note to a few thousand of her closest friends. "This year, I'm so thankful to have you with me working for change," she wrote. "From my family to yours, have a very happy Thanksgiving. All the best. Sincerely. Hillary."