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As a Democratic political consultant who lived and worked in DC for years and has many friends who work on the Hill, I will tell you that this is exactly right.

Lobbyists do the same thing (target the staff), they just do it over coffee, lunch, drinks and/or briefing materials on a desk. 20- & 30-somethings run most of DC.

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It's also worth noting that paper and phone calls are a lot more hassle than email. All those 'email your councillor/senator/mayor/whatever' campaigns are ineffective because the people who take the time to call or mail in a letter are likely to be 10 times more pissed off (and express it) than those that simply email.

Also, remember. Paper builds up. If you've got friends who oppose the bill then get them to write at the same time. Get a stack of letters and mail them together.

Emails can be deleted, and phone calls can be ignored. 100 letters being dropped off by the mail man, that's gonna be a problem.

Thanks to the anthrax scare a while back, mail takes forever to get to senators/reps these days. I think a phone call is more effective at this point.

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