We lost 4 candidates this week, and my inbox is finally showing it. After Pete Buttigieg dropped on Sunday, the emails started to collapse. Amy Klobuchar took another chunk out of my email with her suspension, and then Mike Bloomberg, who never emailed much, pulled out completely. Finally, Elizabeth Warren wrapped up her campaign, and my inbox has been under 20 emails a day without them.
| Emails | Campaigns | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 184 | 3 |
| Non-Donor | 61 | 3 |
| Donor | 62 | 3 |
For all new readers: Welcome! I am currently on the mailing lists of 1 candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, but I’ve been on 28 mailing lists! 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!
Over the past seven days, Joe Biden sent 33 emails, Bernie Sanders sent 24, and Tulsi Gabbard sent 5. The campaigns that dropped out this week did send emails of their own, but while those were included in the total email count for the table above and in the breakdown of asks and topics below, they are not included in this chart.
With four candidates dropping on nearly-consecutive days, the weekly emails chart actually shows these big senders falling off. Sunday was the last day that Pete Buttigieg sent emails, Tuesday was the last day for Amy Klobuchar, Wednesday for Mike Bloomberg, and Thursday for Elizabeth Warren.
Pete’s contests from Sunday were the last gasp of campaigns holding contests, while all of the drop-out emails being classified as “None” made a real impression on this chart. Overwhelmingly, however, the campaigns were focusing on getting as much money as they could prior to Super Tuesday and the sequel, Super Tuesday Two: Michigan’s Boogaloo.
My state gets to vote this upcoming Tuesday, and it looks like Michigan is going to be THE battleground state between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. There are many more candidates still on the Michigan ballot, however. I’ll let you know who I voted for after I cast my vote.
The bulk of the asks from the remaining candidates have been for donations. Bernie Sanders has occasionally asked me to knock some doors for him in Michigan, but Joe Biden and Tulsi Gabbard have been more focused on the money. Biden has asked me to commit to vote, but I’m not even telling him who I’m voting for.
The most fascinating part of this week’s emails has been the over-use of Thank You, at least when compared to the normal weeks.
There were 42 emails saying “Thank You.” Normally, this is where Bernie Sanders dominates, but this past week, he sent only 14 of them. Joe Biden sent 19, and the remaining 9 were sent by candidates who have dropped out.
This has been the biggest change in emails over this past week. Biden’s emails, which used to be desperate and pleading, have become hopeful and grateful. He is watching the sacrifice of other candidates and the way their supporters are swiftly realigning behind him, and he knows that without that immediate support, both in votes and dollars, his campaign would be sunk. Most candidates’ supporters get time to grieve before they have to make a new decision, but most of the people behind Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar dried their tears and immediately got up to vote for Biden. Now that Elizabeth is also out, it will be interesting to see what happens to her votes on March 10.
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