Subject: The machine exploded
From: "Al Franken" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 14:06:47 +0000

Dear Hunter,

It's been a rough day here at the Al Franken Center for Innovation in Fundraising Emails.

See, we just got this new machine.  Real cutting-edge.  The salesman said it could fill inboxes faster than ever before.  He didn't look too happy about selling it to us.  I guess he's on our list, too.

The first couple emails it spat out were pretty good.  But then we started inputting all the recent developments in our race: the new attack ad from my Republican opponent, the new Super PAC devoted to defeating me, and the four straight polls showing this race in single digits.  

We even reminded the machine that there were only 9 days left to reach our September goal in the hopes that it would come up with some snazzy fundraising links like this one.

https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/afe140921?express_lane=true&amp;amount=&amp;refcode=afe140921_m_&amp;refcode2=2672953

Anyway, I guess it was too much, because the machine started cranking out some really weird stuff.  A chapter from The Great Gatsby.  Directions to a gas station in Wabasha County.  A bunch of Minnesota Twins box scores from 1984.

Eventually, the machine started emitting a sort of bluish smoke, along with a poem about Lake Beltrami.  The poem wasn't bad, but the smoke smelled awful.

Then it exploded.

Fortunately, it's still under warranty, but we're back to writing these things manually.  And, really, with so much going on in our race, it shouldn't take a start-of-the-art email-generating machine to make the case for why we need your help.

We're fighting back against the special interests, but we can't do it without you.  Please click here to get us $5 closer to our September goal!

https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/afe140921?express_lane=true&amp;amount=&amp;refcode=afe140921_m_&amp;refcode2=2672953

Here at the Franken Center, we've got a lot of machine parts to clean up.  But our campaign has work to do, too -- special-interest-fighting, attack-ad-rebutting, grassroots-field-program-building work.  And we really need your help to do it.

Thanks for everything,

Al

P.S.: The machine really seemed to think you'd be convinced to make a contribution if we told you that Tom Brunansky hit a home run to help the Twins beat the White Sox on June 10, 1984.  But I'm pretty sure it would be more convincing to point out that our race is tightening fast, our opponent and his allies are spending big on attack ads, and we're still $60,002 away from our September goal.  Either way, would you click here to donate $5 right now?

https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/afe140921?express_lane=true&amp;amount=&amp;refcode=afe140921_m_&amp;refcode2=2672953

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