After much ado about e-mails, county Republican Party officials have decided to release the electronic addresses of their delegates.

About 1,200 delegates were recently chosen at GOP caucuses across the county. Their names, phone numbers and addresses were given to respective candidates, but their e-mails were withheld for party use only on the basis of privacy and spamming concerns.

"I realize it's partly inner-party politics and that's what I'm running against," said Jacqueline de Gaston, in an interview earlier this week. "It's just a crummy rule they shouldn't have voted for."

But a handful of candidates mistakenly got e-mail addresses through their legislative chairmen and that forced the party's hand, said party chairwoman Marian Monnahan.

"It's a matter of fairness now," Monnahan said.

Such a seemingly small matter is a big deal for candidates, especially those running on a shoestring budget. For example, de Gaston said reaching all of her 199 delegates would take days by phone and cost $75 just in postage for a mailer that may be out of date by the time it reaches its target.

"You can see how campaign things change rapidly. [E-mail] is quick and easy and cheap," said de Gaston, who is facing incumbent Curt Bramble in Senate District 16.

Delegates are important because they help choose candidates for the primary or general elections. If the convention chooses a candidate by more than 60 percent, that person skips the primary and goes straight to the general election. In the case of the Republican Party, which hasn't lost a race in years, coming out of a convention without a primary challenger has meant easily winning the whole thing in November.

Candidates for state legislative seats will have access to the e-mail lists but will have to first promise to use them only for campaigning.

"They may not be used for commercial or other purposes," Monnahan said.