White House Reaches Out via E-Mail on Health-Care Reform

By Jose Antonio Vargas
Obama's WhiteHouse.gov has sent its first e-mail.

"You are receiving this email because you signed up at WhiteHouse.gov," began the 355-word e-mail which landed in our inbox at 3:36 p.m. EST from President Obama. The subject line read, "Health care news worth sharing."

"My staff and I plan to use these messages as a way to directly communicate about important issues and opportunities, and today I have some encouraging updates about health care reform," the e-mail continued.

Nearly two weeks after unveiling
its presence on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, the White House's new media team sent the e-mail to its growing list Wednesday afternoon. In the past few months, visitors to WhiteHouse.gov have signed up to get e-mail alerts, and online political observers have been awaiting the sending of its first e-mail. During the campaign, Obama amassed an e-mail list of 13 million addresses -- by far the biggest in Washington. That list is now being used by Organizing For America (formerly Obama for America), which is housed at the Democratic National Commitee. WhiteHouse.gov's e-mail list, though growing, is not as large as 13 million, a source inside the White House said.

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