Ever since I signed up for email updates from the candidates running for president, I've made so many new friends.

 

"Dear Friend," began the latest missive from Bill Clinton, "You and I both want Hillary to win. So let me be frank about the challenge our campaign faces right now. It couldn't be any simpler than this: we cannot be competitive politically unless we are competitive financially -- and right now we are at a financial disadvantage."
 
And then he asked for some gas money to get the campaign bus through Pennsylvania. A couple days before, Hillary dear-friended me with a similar request for money -- and some girl talk: "As much as I enjoy talking to you by email, there are times in this campaign when I wish you and I could sit down right next to one another and just talk. This is one of those moments."

The Obama people are pretty personal as well. "Rebecca," wrote Jon Carson, the "Barry" Obama campaign's National Voter Contact Director. "Barack talked earlier this week about bridging divides and bringing people together to solve our common problems. That's not just the theme of this campaign -- it's been the theme of his life's work."

And then he asked me to call everybody I knew in Pennsylvania and make sure they're registered to vote. This seems to have worked. Reports are that Democratic voter registration in the Quaker State is way up, to more than 4 million people. Of course, it's possible that people are just interested in general. Some election officials, notably one from Arizona, are predicting near 80 percent turnout in the general election, which is damned near what it should be every election.

McCain, in contrast, is not nearly so free with the Dear so and sos. His campaign mostly just sends out a newsletter packed with photo-ops, invitations to buy a T-shirt, and the intriguing offer to play McCain's March Madness brackets. The hitch is that to sign up for that, you have to fill out a form, one that encourages you to bracket yourself as Asian American, "of faith", a farmer or rancher or some other niche category. I guess this does make the pandering that much more efficient.