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WASHINGTON - You've got mail, members of Congress, about 200 million pieces of it. Nine out of 10 of those missives are e-mail, according to a report that chronicles the rapid shift from postal letters to e-mail as the means of communicating with lawmakers.

And a personal message, either online or on paper, carries more weight than the mass mailings so popular with advocacy groups, says the report from the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonpartisan group working to improve the effectiveness of Congress.

"It's the individual communication that gives a sense of who the constituent is, and is more likely to persuade members," said Kathy Goldschmidt, co-author of the report.

The report, based on a survey of 202 House and Senate offices, found that Congress received 200 million e-mail and postal mail messages in 2004, four times the 50 million total in 1995. During that period, postal mail dropped sharply, from all 50 million a decade ago to about 18 million last year.

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