Thread: Brownback - E-Mail 101: BCC Good, CC Bad

E-Mail 101: BCC Good, CC Bad

By Chris Cillizza And Shailagh Murray
Sunday, July 1, 2007; Page A02

E-mail is a dangerous thing.

Sen. Sam Brownback's presidential campaign discovered that fact last week when an intern pinged a huge list of people who had contacted the Kansas Republican about his position on the comprehensive immigration bill. The Senate had voted for cloture on the legislation that day, allowing the immigration overhaul to move forward.

"Senator Brownback voted in favor of cloture on the motion to proceed to the immigration bill today," read the e-mail, which was sent out June 26. "That means he voted to bring the bill back to the floor for debate . . . this does not mean that Senator Brownback supports the immigration bill itself."

Boilerplate stuff, right? Not exactly.

Instead of blind-carbon-copying to the full list, which had more than a hundred names, the Brownback staffer put all of the names in the "To" field -- meaning that everyone's e-mail address was visible to everyone else.

An e-mail barrage ensued with a number of people replying to the full list with their comments on Brownback's position on immigration. "C'mon Mr. Brownback . . . .tell us what you've been promised in exchange for your YES vote for amnesty for illegals," wrote Alan Doll in an e-mail obtained by The Fix. "Thanks for the preview of the man who wants to be president."

Jinny Hayden, who lives in suburban Atlanta, wrote: "Your track record doesn't convince me that you would enforce any new laws any better than you have with the laws that are in the books now." Hayden said she received "a hundred" e-mails from people on the original message.

"We apologize for sending everyone's e-mail address to the other recipients of the e-mail," said Martin Gillespie, political director of Brownback's presidential campaign.

Did the storm of comments bear fruit? On Thursday, when the Senate held another cloture vote -- which, it turned out, would seal the demise of the bill-- Brownback initially voted "yes" on moving the bill forward. Ten minutes later, he switched his vote to "no."

Brownback told reporters that his initial vote Thursday was cast out of a desire to "showcase" the need for immigration reform. Explaining the last-minute switch, he said: "I wanted to signal that I support comprehensive immigration reform, but now is not the time, this is not the bill."

e-mail works!

Dixie

Brownback told reporters that his initial vote Thursday was cast out of a desire to "showcase" the need for immigration reform. Explaining the last-minute switch, he said: "I wanted to signal that I support comprehensive immigration reform, but now is not the time, this is not the bill."

What is that smell?

e-mail works! Cool

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