Bad as this trove of emails is, it could presage something much worse. A brief introduction to the emails, that were released on Twitter with a link to a webpage, described them as "part one of our new Hillary Leaks series". Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton in Cincinnati on Monday. Credit:AP Naming key DNC officials, the introduction says how many of the emails came from each, including communications director Luis Miranda (10,770 emails), national finance director Jordon Kaplan (3797 emails), and finance chief of staff Scott Comer. The emails are dated through the five months to May 25, 2016. Several of the emails address efforts to embarrass or to wrong-foot the Sanders campaign, which began almost as a non-event but surged with young voter support in particular to become a serious and determined challenger to Mrs Clinton.

One email suggests that Senator Sanders be questioned on his faith, in the hope of revealing him as an atheist. It reads: "Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist." Bernie Sanders and Democratic presumptive presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire on July 12. Credit:AP Another internal email, dated May 21, from committee communications staffer Mark Paustenbach to a colleague, examines the possibility of pushing reporters to portray the Sanders campaign as "a mess" after a glitch on DNC computer servers inadvertently gave Senator Sanders access to Clinton voter data. "Wondering if there's a good Bernie narrative for a story, which is that Bernie never ever had his act together, that his campaign was a mess," Mr Paustenbach asks Mr Miranda.

Supporters of both Clinton and Sanders made up the crowd in New Hampshire. Credit:AP Under the subject line "Bumping this for comms approval please", the draft of a fake Craigslist ad to recruit Trump staffers, which was sent to several DNC insiders, begins: "Mark and Luis - digital created a fake craigslist jobs post for women who want to apply to jobs one of Trump's organizations [sic]. This will be a microsite and we still need to send it to Perkins. Since we will be pitching this, need your approval please." It continues: "Seeking staff members for multiple positions in a large, New York-based corporation known for its real estate investments, fake universities, steaks, and wine. The boss has very strict standards for female employees, ranging from the women who take lunch orders (must be hot) to the women who oversee multi-million dollar construction projects (must maintain hotness demonstrated at time of hiring)". WikiLeaks. In the course of the bitterly contested primaries, the Sanders campaign several times accused the DNC and in particular, its chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, of bias and unfair treatment, particularly in the scheduling of debates which, Senator Sanders argued, were being slotted in on weekends when audiences would be smaller.

In one of the emails, Ms Wasserman Schultz dismissed a colleague's query about complaining about a CNN story, adding: "This is a silly story - he isn't going to be president." Tempers became so frayed in May that Senator Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver told CNN: "We could have a long conversation just about Debbie Wasserman Shultz and how she's been throwing shade at the Sanders campaign since the very beginning." The leaked emails might also cause embarrassment in some newsrooms around the country because they reveal a close and, at times, too close working relationship with the Democratic Party. In one case, a reporter submitted his story to the DNC for clearance ahead of publication.