The now-infamous Sid Blumenthal e-mail list is, it should be said, just one of many. Every day, I open my e-mail and am greeted by a variety of random, unknown correspondents sending me links meant to prove their candidate's perfection and the opposing candidate's perfidy. I get poll numbers, op-ed columns, magazine features, stories in obscure local newspapers...the depth and breadth of the oppo coverage is impressive. Early on, I mainly got this correspondence from Obama-supporters, but now, the two sides have near equal representation (the Clintonites may even be winning), and are similar in sophistication, if not tone. The Obama correspondents are, in my experience, a whole lot more respectful of Hillary than the Hillary people are of Obama, but I can't say with any certainty that my sample is representative. In both cases though, it's an interesting sub story of this election that every reporter and writer of even minimal prominence is getting fed this stuff from folks who present themselves as interested citizens unaffiliated with the campaigns. I wonder if that's made it more effective than in past years, when you were basically limited to official campaign communications? And I wonder what role the campaigns are playing in feeding these folks stories and talking points?
