Effectiveness of Communication to Congress
Below is the summary from a report recently published by OMB Watch. Basically, it says that all those e-mail petitions people send around may not be very effective in influencing legislators.
The study found that the best way of contacting a representative is to write a personal letter that isn't part of a coordinated campaign. Next most effective were personal visits, phone calls, faxes, and personal e-mail from a constituent. Sign-on petitions, post cards, and form letters got very low marks in terms of the time and attention congress- people and their staff give to them.
For the full text of the study, go to http://www.ombwatch.org/html/summary.html