Yesterday I received the following fundraising appeal from Chris Dodd:
Hey, I only have a few seconds on my way back to Washington from last night's debate. The fundraising quarter is wrapping up and we're just short of hitting our goal. Will you chip in $23 and put us over the top? You can contribute here: http://www.chrisdodd.com/deadline I'll be in touch soon. Chris
And today I get a fundraising appeal from Barack Obama that has "Hey" as its subject line:
I'm just now leaving New York, and you've got me fired up. Nearly 25,000 people came together last night for the rally. . . . We're still shy of our goal of 350,000 people giving to the campaign by Sunday's deadline. Make a donation now and get us there: https://donate.barackobama.com/match More soon. Barack
Now, it's nice that Chris Dodd and Barack Obama are pretending to be friends of mine. And there's no doubt I'd enjoy being their friend, too. But why the psuedo-informality? Isn't that a little, you know, contrived? Shouldn't someone running for president present himself more formally? It's not like I'm giving a buddy five bucks to pick up a six pack before the game. They are asking me to give them potentially thousands of dollars to support their campaign to become the most powerful individual in the world. Presumably those people who are most inclined to donate to them can see through a silly gimmick like this.