9/11 fell the day before debate night, and the campaigns were scrambling to make up for it. Instead of the usual day-before email blasts, they had to pile them all onto that Thursday, and then the weekend had a looming MID-MONTH DEADLINE just before the FEC END OF QUARTER DEADLINE!
To say it was a busy week is just a little bit of an understatement.
| Emails | Campaigns | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 439 | 19 |
| Non-Donor | 225 | 19 |
| Donor | 214 | 18 |
With 29 emails in 7 days, Kamala Harris averaged over 4 emails a day this week, far beyond even Cory Booker, who only sent 21 emails, or 3 a day on average. Joe Biden sent 20 emails, and the next highest after him was Elizabeth Warren at 17.
Emails had been flowing in steadily all week. While many campaigns took a break on Wednesday to honor the tragedy, sending either nothing at all or 1 somber email reflecting on the past, some candidates (looking at you, Kamala Harris) continued to bombard me with emails all week long without a breather.
Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg were the only campaigns having a good week financially, from the sounds of their emails. While most who talked money were worried about their poor numbers, O’Rourke celebrated his August fundraising success, and Buttigieg was pretty proud of last weekend’s insane $750,000 one-day fundraising push.
Cory Booker, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, on the other hand, were all bemoaning their fundraising being off-pace of their goals. Out of the 10 candidates in Thursday’s debate, this means half of them weren’t getting the numbers they were hoping for.
Debate emails were more than double the next highest email topic, which was fundraising. Though the ten on stage were very vocal about the debate before and during the debate, it was candidates who hadn’t made it who kept bringing up debates afterwards.
Marianne Williamson hosted a live debate-watch during the debate, then talked about the debate afterwards, then kept reminding me how much she had been missing during the debate. Her supporters were going so far as to make “Missing Marianne” memes, which she was happy to share.
While Michael Bennet continued to harp on the arbitrary nature of the DNC rules, Tulsi Gabbard picked up his drumbeat and joined in.
But the DNC decided that Tulsi should not be on the debate stage on Thursday night. And this was a huge loss for the American people.
Right now, we have the opportunity to prove to the DNC that it is not they who will decide who our next president will be — it’s the American people.
TULSI2020
I hate having to repeat myself: The DNC set the framework. The candidates were expected to raise their national profile to meet the framework. The candidates who could not were not invited to the stage.
If the DNC was trying to block this candidate or that one, they would have been changing the rules in the middle of the cycle. They didn’t. They weren’t.
If the rules are unfair, the candidates need to protest them before it’s clear that they didn’t make them. If they didn’t complain before it was too late, that means they didn’t think it was unfair.
Bill de Blasio admitted it was tough to not be on the debate stage, but he’s pretty happy with his own fundraising. He set a goal of 1,000 donors, and he’s already 38% of the way there! He also released a plan for how to help Puerto Rico heal and thrive.
There was no mention of statehood for Puerto Rico in his plan.
Andrew Yang wrote a debate recap on Saturday. These are by far my favorite Yang emails. He goes over the actual experience of debating, and he seems to genuinely enjoy writing them. It’s not so much an email he has to send to meet his quota, but a chance to share an incredible, unbelievable experience with his friends.
We saw record traffic on our website in the hours after the debate, and the buzz about the Freedom Dividend dominated the airwaves. Perhaps my favorite was Trevor Noah dubbing me “the Asian Oprah.” People are waking up to the fact that we can think and act much bigger to improve our own lives. It was also tremendous to see supporters in Houston from all over the country — you all are the best. Nothing like a Yang Gang party — we take the party with us wherever we go.
Our plan for the debate worked phenomenally. I am evolving as a candidate and it feels great. I am already looking forward to the next debate in October in Ohio.
I want to commend my team in particular for their dedication and ingenuity. Even as I’m learning and evolving, they are too. We are fighting it out with the rulers of the political class in this country and we are gaining ground each and every day. We will catch up and surpass them at the right time.
We are getting stronger by leaning into our own humanity. Who says that politics has to be a joyless slog? It’s no wonder that so many of our fellow Americans have tuned out. If we campaign in the best way possible, we can elevate the discussion and excite people in unprecedented ways, even transform the electorate.
It’s a tall order, but the pendulum tends to swing dramatically in the other direction in national politics. And we all know who the opposite of Donald Trump is. 😉
I’m doing some media in New York this weekend then it will be off to Boston and Philadelphia for rallies on Monday and Tuesday. Please come on out to the rallies and tell your friends! Then we stop in D.C. before heading to Iowa to campaign. Trips to Iowa and New Hampshire are great ways to measure our progress — I see the enthusiasm growing each time.
We are progressing very quickly. We have about four-and-a-half months before the voting starts. Let’s use every day.
Your pumped up candidate,
Andrew Yang
Meanwhile, Julian Castro had been ping-ponging across the emotional spectrum all week.
Monday, September 9:
I just got off the stage from my historic pre-debate rally in Houston.
And I’m simply stunned — my team just told me we received almost 5,000 gifts from our amazing supporters all across the country tonight.
Julian Castro
Tuesday, September 10:
My heart just dropped.
I just learned that there will be a second stage at the next debates.
That’s because another candidate just qualified — after flooding the race with millions at the last second.
Julian Castro
Everything — EVERYTHING — just changed for Julián.
1. 10 hours from tonight’s big debate, a new poll just showed Julián SURPASSING Trump in Texas.
2. This is HISTORIC, and shows Julián can finally turn Texas blue.
Team Julian
Thursday, September 12
This fight — our fight — is too important to me to stay quiet when what I hear doesn’t add up.
I spent every second on that stage fighting for you — and now I’m being attacked for it.
This is now the biggest obstacle I have ever faced. Can I count on you to take a stand for me with $5?
Julian Castro
Friday, September 13
Team Julian
This has been one of the most humbling 24 hours of my life.
After I left everything out on the debate stage last night…
After I told you I officially surpassed Trump in a Texas poll…
After generous donors agreed to match gifts to help me capitalize on this historic moment…
Your support has skyrocketed — I’m in awe.
Julian Castro
Saturday, September 14
BREAKING: Trump launches false attack ads aimed directly at Julián Castro I’m livid: After I surged past Trump in a new Texas poll — he just launched false ads smearing my campaign. I will not let his attacks go unanswered. I’m counting on your immediate $5 to fight back >>
This is the most important ask I’ve ever made of you.
Donald Trump just flooded my hometown with false attack ads smearing me and my campaign.
I know he never imagined someone like me would overtake him in the polls.
But we did — and I’m not about to let him sabotage our historic lead against him.
I don’t care what Trump thinks of me.
But when he defames my team and smears the faith you’ve put in this movement — you better believe I’m going to fight back.
I need 319 supporters to help me counter this President’s disgusting attacks.
Can I count on you to rush $5?
Julian Castro
Julián’s game-changing debate performance just raised the stakes…
First: A Texas poll just showed Julián surge past Trump for the first time in history
Then: Trump fought back with false ads personally attacking Julián
Julián refuses to back down in the face of lying attacks — even if it means taking on the President of the United States.
When Donald Trump insulted Julián’s background…
When he launched vile attacks on Julián’s family…
And even in the face of a massive smear campaign…
Julián never stopped fighting for the values that matter in this election.
Team Julian
Reading Castro’s emails is emotionally exhausting. Is his campaign doing well? Is it in the toilet? Yes. To both! Castro is humbled and awed and livid and amazed. He’s only upset at Trump when Trump attacks his supporters, but also when Trump attacks him, he fights back. I honestly do not know the tone of Castro’s campaign, except incredibly reactive (and usually behind on news: Steyer qualified on Sunday and Castro didn’t know until Tuesday?)
No one else is quite as crazy extreme as Castro, mercifully. I don’t know what my sanity would be like if all 20 candidates vacillate wildly based on the news of the day. (I do know what my sanity is like if the President does…)
Elizabeth Warren tempered her fundraising emails this week by offering me a sticker most of the time, which turned her asks into “Merch” asks instead of “Donate” asks.
Beto O’Rourke was the only candidate with an “Outside” ask this week. A Texas lawmaker, Briscoe Cain, tweeted a death threat at O’Rourke after O’Rourke said he’d take away AR-15s and AR-47s during the debate. After reporting the threat both to Twitter and the FBI, Twitter deleted the tweet (though didn’t suspend Cain’s account), and Fox News invited Cain on to talk about it, joke about it, and raise money for his own campaign.
O’Rourke wasn’t about to take that lying down.
So here’s what we’re going to do: We’re going to raise a bunch of money today for Cain’s opponent, Josh Markle, through the Texas House Democratic caucus. We need ALL hands on deck because Cain probably raised tens of thousands of dollars for his campaign last night on Fox News.
Last year, Briscoe Cain ran completely unopposed. This time, the Texas House Democratic caucus is running a campaign with Josh Markle to defeat him. The more money we can raise for them today, the stronger and clearer our message to Cain becomes. So please, make your best donation right now.
The more money we can raise for Josh today, the stronger and clearer our message to Cain becomes. So please, make your best donation right now.
Team Beto
And yes, the duplication of the second-to-last paragraph was in the email.
So was the typo in Joe Biden’s new tool.
What is a personal link?
This link lets us — and you! — know who you have personally recruited to donate to Joe Biden. This helps you build grassroots support for Joe that helps us fund this campaign, but also helps us generate broad support to win votes, too!
It’s also handy if Joe wants to call his stop supporters!
Biden for President
Yep, I’m a “stop supporter” for Biden.
Basically, Biden has given me a personal link to raise money for his campaign. I get to add this to my collection of personal links. I think I’ll start a sidebar! I have Elizabeth Warren (raised $100 for her!) and Pete Buttigieg (raised $0 for him). Now I have Biden too!
Except Biden called this his BFD. Or actually, THE BFD.
Except, there’s one little problem.
Biden already used BFD as an acronym. He didn’t define it then, but am I to interpret this to mean Obamacare is a Biden Fundraising Dashboard?
Yep, sounds about right.
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But their emails! 