These are the best turn-key Web sites for progressive candidates.

Mailing List Managers

If you have a web site but need a service to manage your mailing list, you can choose between free and paid services. Free services (Yahoo Groups (http://groups.google.com/),%20%20and%20Topica’s%20free%20service%20(http://lists.topica.com/).%20have">http://groups.yahoo.com/),%20Google%20Groups%20(http://groups.google.com/),%20%20and%20Topica’s%20free%20service%20(http://lists.topica.com/).%20have these limitations:

• they only store the email address and name, so you cannot target your mailings based on criteria like geography, volunteers activities, contributions, etc.
• there are limitations on the number of email addresses you can add per day, which makes it difficult to move an existing list
• they show ads at the top of each message

Hosted email tools typically allow you to manage your list, create emails, and view reports through a web-based interface.  Most will allow you to send formatted emails; some provide tools to let you easily format them.   You can generally integrate them into your website so that you can take subscriptions online, and the tools will automatically manage unsubscribe requests and delete email addresses that are no longer valid.   Reports allow you to see how many opened a particular eNewsletter and how many clicked on a link.

These tools minimize the possibility of being blacklisted as a spammer. In addition, many of the vendors proactively manage relationships with ISPs to prevent spam filter problems.

• Groundspring Email Now (http://www.groundspring.org/):  A good basic service, with solid deliverability and reports.  If you want to send formatted newsletters, you must create them in a different tool and paste the HTML in.  At $19.95/ month for 10,000 emails and $1 or less for every 1000 thereafter, Groundspring is affordably priced even for small lists, and becomes a tremendous deal for bigger ones.  Groundspring is a nonprofit itself and is committed to the nonprofit sector.
• Electric Embers NPOGroups (http://www.electricembers.net/):  NPOGroups has perhaps more in common with tools like Yahoo Groups than the other services in this section – it provides a similar service without the advertising and a bit more control over the list.  It doesn’t easily support HTML formatting.  It is priced on a sliding scale, starting at $10/month for 2500 subscribers, and $5 per extra 5000.
• GraphicMail (http://www.graphicmail.com/):  GraphicMail offers 10,000 emails (in total) free to nonprofits (notable branding for GraphicMail is included in your emails in this free version; the branding can be removed for $20/year). Additional emails are about half a cent per email.  The tool has solid editing and reporting tools, including a HTML editor that allows you to create your own templates.
• Emma (http://www.myemma.com/):  Emma is a good solution for those who want to send good looking formatted emails without messing around with HTML.  You can install a custom template (designed by you, a consultant, or by Emma themselves) and then easily change the text and images for each newsletter.  It has solid reporting tools.  It’s $35/month for up to 1000 emails, $45/month for up to 2500, and so on through a number of levels, reaching $600/month for 100,000 emails.
• CampaignMonitor (http://www.campaignmonitor.com/): Intended for web designers who can build their own HTML emails, CampaignMonitor doesn’t provide any template options, but offers good custom fields and reporting functionality as well as solid deliverability.  At $5 per email campaign, plus $0.01 per email, the service is very affordable for small lists but probably overpriced for large ones.
• Topica (http://www.topica.com/):  In addition to its well known free service, Topica offers a solid paid option.  The tool offers sophisticated website integration, lots of custom fields, and powerful list segmentation tools as well as the standard newsletter template and report functions. It’s $50/month for up to 5000 subscribers (ask about an additional nonprofit discount), but goes up quickly from there: the next level is $250/month for up to 25,000 subscribers. 
• ConstantContact (http://www.constantcontact.com/):  A commonly used tool in both the business and nonprofit worlds, ConstantContact provides solid templates, segmenting, and reporting features.  The pricing scheme is friendly to small lists:  $15/month for under 500 subscribers, $30/month for under 2500, and so on up to $150/month for up to 25,000 subscribers.  However, several people mentioned trouble with spam filters when using ConstantContact.
• DemocracyInAction (http://www.democracyinaction.org/):  DemocracyInAction (DIA) offers a lot of flexibility to set your email template and website forms just the way you want them, and includes an extensive developer’s API.   Unfortunately, getting started is not as easy as with most of these other hosted tools, so you’ll want someone with HTML skills on hand.  DIA is on the expensive side for small lists, charging $50/month for up to 2500 subscribers, but a great deal for large lists at $100/month for up to 50,000 subscribers. 

Canvassing systems:

These systems allow you to upload a voter file and then manage canvass operations like phone banks and door-to-door by printing contact sheets and keypunching canvass results.

• Advokit (open source) 
• Voter Activation Network

Paid Advertising to progressive activists:

• Democrats.com
• Liberal Blog Advertising Network

Email append: buy email addresses for Democratic voters in your district (typically 15% match rates)

• AdvocacyInc
• DCS

Free Internet outreach tips:

• CompleteCampaigns CampaignGuide
• Jack Carter, MySpace, and "Word of Mouth" Marketing