Obama's e-mails raise cash, concerns

A flurry of fundraising e-mails from the Obama campaign has some subscribers pleading for a break from the solicitations and has raised questions about whether Barack Obama has figured out how to harness the power of his online network once in the White House. In the five weeks since Election Day, Obama's once-cohesive Web presence has fragmented into a jumble of sometimes disparate-feeling fundraising pitches, YouTube videos and calls for activism spread across three websites. E-mails to the list of supporters have generated contributions to help victims of the California wildfires, invited questions for the transition team, prompted 500,000 responses to a survey about what Obama backers would like to do next and helped gin up thousands of house parties across the country last weekend, at which Obama supporters deliberated on how to maintain the campaign's grass-roots energy once he's inaugurated. And, of course, there are the fashion and novelty sale items -- including the Obama fleece scarf being hawked this week with a deadline duly noted to ensure delivery in time for Christmas.