“Think about how many times we could use government to decide what is and is not healthy or good for us — I am not sure that is the state we want to live in,” he wrote.

He was less of a hard-liner, though, when a gay Floridian hoping to win a job in Mr. Bush’s administration gently asked if his sexual orientation would present a problem.

“On the other stuff, don’t ask, don’t tell is fine with me,” Mr. Bush responded, appropriating the terminology President Bill Clinton used regarding gays in the military. “What you do in your private life is your business. If it crosses over into the public policy realm, then that is another matter. If you are comfortable with that, then we can proceed.”

Mr. Bush’s willingness to engage his correspondents even extended to what may be considered hate mail. When one of them accused him of acting like a Nazi, the governor responded: “Chill out, John. Do you really believe my rhetoric is fascist and Nazi like? Take a deep breathe and relax.”

Mr. Bush’s love of email has long been well known among political professionals. He is famously accessible to friends, donors, constituents and reporters via email, and during his time as governor was quick to adopt what was then the cutting edge of wireless technology: the BlackBerry.

The device became so central to his image as a details-obsessed executive engrossed in a range of policy minutiae, a BlackBerry, sitting in its charging station, is in the background of his official state portrait.

The BlackBerry allowed him to be in touch whenever he was traveling and to set the parameters of those electronic conversations.