On Friday, the Democrats debated for the eighth time, attacks on various campaigns’ sources of funding were made or ignored, and Andrew Yang managed to forget to thank the Yang Gang.
However, also on Friday, Yang-themed BTE merch went up on the BTE store! Check out the site for some unofficial MATH gear! (or Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, or generic BTE gear)
| Emails | Campaigns | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 72 | 11 |
| Non-Donor | 38 | 11 |
| Donor | 34 | 8 |
For all new readers: Welcome! I am currently on the mailing lists of 8 candidates for the Democratic Presidential Nomination! This blog breaks down recent emails with charts and excerpts. If you already know all of this, feel free to skip to the next chart!
I signed up to all mailing lists either on May 21 or the day the candidate announced, whichever was later. Using a different email address, I have donated at least $1 to all candidates who have been on a debate stage (I have given additional donations to my preferred candidates through my personal email, but the campaigns have linked the two accounts together and may ask for more as a result).
When showing breakdowns by campaigns, there will usually be 2 numbers. Emails to my non-donor account will be indicated by a darker color/top bar in horizontal bar charts. Emails to my donor account will be indicated by a lighter color/bottom bar.
Unless otherwise specified, all other charts combine the donor and non-donor numbers, as they are roughly 1-for-1, so the percentages and relative differences don’t change much. You can divide the numbers in half to get the rough estimate for what someone not signed up twice would be receiving. The rules I try to follow for the various categories are laid out in The Framework.
If you want specific data on any particular day, feel free to drop a comment!
Pete Buttigieg continued to dominate the inbox with a whopping 7 emails sent on debate day, while Elizabeth Warren only slipped in 6. Both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders tied for third with 5 emails each.
Friday was the last debate before the New Hampshire primaries, and the candidates were hopping. Those not on the debate stage weren’t saying much about the debates, but those who were were all over them, especially late at night.
Both Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders continued to claim victory in Iowa, though again, according to the rules, the winner was Pete Buttigieg. We might want the President to be elected by the popular vote, but those aren’t the rules we are currently playing by. Refusing to acknowledge that does not mean you are victorious.
Ask Hillary Clinton how a popular vote victory turned out.
But while Buttigieg is fundraising off of his victory, this is awesome, let’s keep going, Sanders is fundraising off his victory, this is horrible, Joe Biden and Buttigieg are attacking us with their Super PACs and drowning our campaign with their money.
Let me say it yet again for the people in the back: Bernie Sanders has 9 dark money groups supporting him.
Sanders was doubling down on his attacks against Biden and Buttigieg, though especially Buttigieg, hounding him for accepting money from billionaires and daring to have the largest veteran activist group supporting him. Buttigieg, on the other hand, referenced Sanders by saying they were in a statistical tie in New Hampshire (though Buttigieg’s poll numbers were rising while Sanders’ were remaining stagnant), and he was still running an underdog campaign against Sanders’ massive mailing list and nine dark money groups.
Elizabeth Warren, Tom Steyer, and Amy Klobuchar all sent generic “hey, the candidate is on the debate stage, if you think they’re doing well, send a donation!” emails (well, Steyer just asked what I thought of the debate with a survey) during the debate. After the debate, Amy Klobuchar was the first to email with a generic recap and donation ask, followed swiftly by Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, and Elizabeth Warren. Pete Buttigieg trailed behind the other candidates, slipping his end-of-debate email in at 11:45 PM.
Yang’s emails were… interesting. Desperate. He all but said that if he can’t hit his $2 million goal, if he can’t break out in New Hampshire… that’s it. It’s over. He also managed to send an email that had all the hallmarks of being an email of thanks and gratitude… without it feeling like he was actually thanking the Yang Gang.
We are moments away from the New Hampshire debate and I keep thinking about your commitment to this movement.
You’ve put your blood, sweat, and tears into making Humanity First a reality. And because of your energy and fight, millions of Americans everywhere are waking up to the idea that they can still get their chance at the American Dream.
The American Dream that leaves no one behind to poverty, homelessness, or scarcity. The American Dream that gives us hope for our future, our kids, and future generations.
It’s because of your dedication that we are going up on the debate stage tonight to remind the world that this American Dream doesn’t have to be lost if we don’t want it to be.
You have a stake in this movement just as much as I do. And I can’t stress enough how make-or-break this primary on Tuesday will be for the future of this campaign. Let’s keep pushing.
Proud to be your candidate,
Andrew Yang
I know I have very strict rules on what counts as a “thank you” in an email, but this email seemed to be lacking all gratitude. “You sacrificed a lot for me” was the start, but at no point was there any sort of “and I appreciate it,” “I’m so grateful,” “it means a lot to me,” etc. There wasn’t even a dreaded “and I’m so humbled by your support.” Nothing. The message was instead “You’ve done so much, now do more.”
Yang used to send weekly updates on what he’d been up to on the road, and while they weren’t the best written, they felt genuine. But now, at the end, Yang seems to have forgotten the basic humanity of his team. You thank them for busting their butts for you, not take them for granted.
I think that, more than anything, is how you can tell a campaign is dying.
So…what do you make of the 3 emails PeteForAmerica sent asking for help getting 1.5 million by Tuesday? I admit I was surprised bc he’s been getting around a mil a day since Iowa & I hoped he’d get a big haul after the debate.
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Since they came on Saturday, they haven’t made it to the blog yet, but I’m not surprised. Iowa drains everyone, and nobody got the full fundraising bump from winning due to all the missteps. I’m honestly more surprised it took him so long to set a goal.
For context, Sanders announced a $25 million haul on January. That’s nearly $1 million every single day. And his emails imply that BERNIE’S hurting for money. I can only imagine what the others are like.
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