January 13, 2010

Quotes of the Day: Senate Edition

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From Harold Ford, who recently moved from Tennessee to New York and is running for the Senate:

Q. Have you been to Staten Island?

A. I landed there in the helicopter, so I can say yes.

And from Harry Reid, on whether it was a good idea to negotiate over healthcare reform with Olympia Snowe:

As I look back it was a waste of time dealing with her, because she had no intention of ever working anything out.

For the record, I once stepped off the Staten Island Ferry and walked around for a few minutes before taking the next ferry back, and a couple of years ago I spent several hours crossing Interstate 278 in a massive traffic jam on my way to JFK. So I’ve been to Staten Island too. And I don’t think Olympia Snowe was ever very serious about healthcare reform either — at least, not based on the lame excuse she gave for not supporting the final Senate bill even after it was redrafted to her liking.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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