I posted the announcement over on the Inside the Magic and Window to the Magic Forums to see if we could get the word out to more candidates.
Kenny - What an incredible work of snowy beautiful happiness!!!!
Justin - Thanks for the details! It is great to hear how it is going.
Karrie and Meggin - How about you guys - what cool things have come of the contest experience for you?
i've had some similar experiences to justin

after my initial email blast, i've received some fun responses from family, friends, and complete strangers. i had attached my email address to the copy/paste-able message and i've heard from people all around the country who are friends of friends. some of my favorite reactions:
a friend told me that his friend from england read his myspace bulletin and voted for me a few times--it's international
a girl i've never met from chicago emailed me and said that she'd gotten wind of the email and that i'd put a smile on her cold chicago face--that made me smile
a friend of my greenville, s.c. campaign manager emailed her and said that it's a small world--she's now living in orlando and is going to grad school with one of my best friends. we've spent time together peripherally at auditions and cold stone creamery
a guy emailed a friend and cc'ed me to say that he was going to keep voting for me even though he didn't remember what he was voting for and asked if i was married (i guess he didn't fully read my page where i mentioned my husband--ha!)
i also have a friend who teaches elementary school. she's using my entry in the contest to teach the kids about the upcoming presidential election, and she's requiring them to vote for me (in the spirit of practicing voting, not necessarily teaching them to make their own decisions. they get to use american idol to learn that lesson)
i've decorated my car windows for the contest--on the back window i've dubbed my car the magicmobile and put up my website. i sit in traffic with my mouse ears on. it made a little girl very happy today
that's some fun things for now....i should have more to share next week...