Thursday brought the end to another candidate and a decided difference in tone between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.
| Emails | Campaigns | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 17 | 3 |
| Non-Donor | 8 | 3 |
| Donor | 9 | 3 |
For all new readers: Welcome! I am currently on the mailing lists of Joe Biden and Donald Trump, though I have previously been on the mailing lists of 28 Democratic candidates! 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!
It took some time for the Trump emails to kick in, so I started officially tracking his list on July 7. I have been tracking Biden’s for longer, but I will start comparing them as of July 7. All of these emails are going to a new email, and I have not donated, filled out surveys, signed petitions, or otherwise interacted with either candidate’s emails.
The rules I try to follow for the various categories are laid out in The Framework.
Joe Biden sent 4 emails yesterday, Bernie Sanders sent 3, and Elizabeth Warren maxed out at 2. Altogether, that is only 9 unique emails.
Elizabeth Warren sent the 2 None emails yesterday as she announced her decision to leave the race. It was a long explanation of all the things she had managed to do by being part of the race and people she had been fighting for, though I struggled to read it. It felt like a list of patting herself on the back (with some leeway with facts–a first-time candidate doesn’t get to start a campaign with $10 million in the bank!) and not an inspiring message to her supporters to keep fighting.
But dropping out of the race wasn’t the only email Warren sent on Thursday. She also emailed to let me know about a final call for her top supporters to debrief on… though she only sent it to my donor account. If I hadn’t been allowed to donate, I guess I wouldn’t have been considered enough of a supporter to hear her signing off her campaign.
The survey email was sent by Joe Biden, asking what I thought of his campaign, while Bernie Sanders offered a list of local canvasses and phone banks I could join to support Sanders.
And then Biden and Sanders competed for my money.
Sanders started by pressing me to pick a side.
Sanders also closed his emails for the day with the same message: Sanders good, Biden bad.
On the other hand, Joe Biden was welcoming his new supporters and including them into Team Joe. Amy Klobuchar sent an email in support of Biden, and the tone was undeniably optimistic and cheerful in all his emails.
It’s easy to be optimistic when you’re winning, but it’s worth pointing out that Sanders was winning… and he was still complaining about how everyone was against him. However, the most notable thing I’ve been seeing these past few days is how thoroughly Biden is embracing the new supporters who came from his recent endorsers. He and his team have been very deliberate in communicating that they are aware their Super Tuesday wins weren’t because they were hot stuff, but because the entire coalition started to come together. It’s not easy to switch gears from one candidate to another, but the change is easier when the new candidate acknowledges your sacrifice.
But their emails! 