Years ago, when I was doing some political work for a local union, I went to a conference on using the (then) new technologies to harness voters. One of the presenters at this conference made a point that ought to burned into the frontal cortex of every campaign team in America.

He said that most campaigns using blast e-mails invariably messed up, because darned near every e-mail included an entreaty for money.

It was hard not to see the temptation for campaigns to do this: campaigns run on money, and sending out an e-mail appeal for cash to your campaign list was infinitely less work-intensive than doing classic written appeals for cash, or holding time-consuming (and often expensive) fundraisers.

But there was a real consequence for the campaign that used blast e-mails exclusively as a fundraising tool. Playing the "e-mail money appeal" too often quickly led to a serious case of diminishing returns. People, getting the increasing feeling that they were being used as an ATM, would shut down and stop reading e-mails. Not only would they stop sending money, they'd simply delete the e-mails when they saw them.

Thus, any other attempts at voter contact (informational pieces, action alerts, etc.) would go unheeded, because the campaign's voter list was, by and large, tuning the candidate out.

Like many politically motivated souls, my in-box will be inundated in a typical week with missives from campaigns and political parties. Two such e-mails which were sent over the past week underscored the lesson taught at that conference close to a decade ago.

For example, this popped into my inbox over last weekend. Attention to all campaigns and candidates--this is how you do it:

Dear Steve, When our daughter Thomasin was in the second grade, her teacher asked each student to write a story about how their parents met. So, she came home and asked me how I met her Mom. I explained that I was at what was known as a freshman 'mixer,' what she knew as a 'dance,' during my first year of college. I saw Franni from across the room. She was organizing some girls to leave and I really liked how she was taking charge, which, in hindsight, is not her best quality... Also, she was just beautiful. So I asked her to dance, and we danced. And then I bought her a ginger ale. After the dance I escorted her back to her dorm and asked her for a date. Thomasin wrote the story up with stunning accuracy. She told her class, "...my Dad asked my Mom to dance, bought her a drink, and took her home." Even at a young age, she had a keen grasp of the facts and a real knack for editing. That night - the first night of the best thing that has ever happened to me - was exactly 40 years ago today. When I was running for the Senate, I used to tell people, "Franni and I are running for the Senate. If we win, I get to be the Senator." Well, we won. And what I said proved true - I get to be the Senator. Another thing that's true is that I wouldn't be where I am today without the love and support of the most amazing woman in the world. And, as we start the next chapter of our journey together, I wanted to send supporters like you a note. A funny story from long ago in hopes that you might take a moment today, remember a funny story about someone you love, smile, and be thankful. All the best, Al P.S. Happy Anniversary Franni, I love you!

Notice the critical characteristic of this e-mail: it has absolutely nothing to do with money, or campaigning, or anything of the sort. It is pure Franken, sharing part of his life with his supporters, as only Al Franken can. It is a sign to Franken's undoubtedly massive e-mail list: "I am thinking of you guys, even when I don't want you to empty your wallets or fill a rally."

Besides being smart politics (anyone who maintains a relationship like that with his/her supporters can count on the legwork and money when it is needed), it is a touching story with a wonderful message at the end. Whether he did or not, one gets the sense that Franken wrote this himself, that this was not some focus-group tested pile of platitudes designs to persuade and influence.

By midweek, a money appeal from the Franken campaign landed in inboxes, in the form of a short message from...Franni Franken. I don't know how successful this particular fundraising appeal was for Team Franken, but I do know that it was set up perfectly by the college story shared with his supporters just four days earlier.

Contrast that with the e-mail that landed in inboxes on Tuesday. Because I don't want to "call out" the campaign in question, I will keep the candidate's name out of it. It was one of the more atrocious attempts at campaign communications I have seen in quite some time from a professional campaign.

It had the potential to be an excellent piece. The candidate focused the e-mail on a piece of potentially damaging information about the way that his opponent was raising campaign cash, among a few other solid pieces of information that could be very damaging for his rival.

If that had been the thrust of the e-mail (complete with media links which could guide the reader to further accounts of the issues at hand), this would have been a solid piece of communication that could be used as an action item (write letters to the editor, call the local paper, etc.).

Instead, it devolved into one of the most ham-handed fundraising appeals one could find. The message was a short one: not counting appeals for money, the e-mail consisted of only 208 words. In those eleven sentences, there were three "please contribute" links interspersed, a fourth appeal for contributions in the final sentence of the piece (in case the first three links somehow went unseen). And, on the off-chance that the first four appeals for moolah had gone unnoticed, there was a big contribution button beneath the signature.

The gist of this campaign message: "I have some really interesting information about my opponent. But what I really, really want is your money."

There is a lesson here, and not just in the realm of candidate e-mails. This also speaks to the myriad of politicos that come to this site. It cannot be said often enough--the campaign that tends towards dropping the occasional diary (often with a helpful campaign and fundraising link), while never commenting or engaging the community is making a serious underestimation of their electorate.

The activists that comprise the party base are fairly sophisticated folks. They know when they are being genuinely engaged, and they know when they are being used. They will crawl over busted glass to help people who will attempt the former, and they will soon dismiss those that attempt the latter.

Campaigns would be wise to learn this.