Targeting Net users directly can have only a limited impact on the election. However, if Net users can be utilized as intermediaries to the general public, then the numbers become more attractive. We believe that it can and the rest of this memo outlines its logic, structure, and implementation. Despite all the attention given to candidates' home pages on the Web, the most effective part of the Internet for political activity is electronic mail, not the World Wide Web. The Web is still primarily a broadcast medium and does not yet allow for the communication, interaction, and collaboration necessary for grassroots organizing and mobilization.
Electronic mail is more personal and more interactive than the Web.
E-mail also supports group communication since messages can be sent easily among groups of individuals. Citizens and activists around the globe are using electronic mail to communicate, share information, and coordinate political activity with great success. Amnesty International , for example, uses electronic Urgent Action Alerts to notify Amnesty members of human rights abuses in need of intervention. Jim Warren used a similar approach to obtain passage of a California bill putting government information online. E-mail bulletins were sent out to a network of activists informing of them of upcoming hearings and votes.