July 7, 2011

Mitt Romney’s Evangelical Problem

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My mother asked me the other day why Mitt Romney’s religion was supposed to be a problem for him. “Because lots of evangelicals view Mormonism as a cult,” I answered, and evangelicals are a huge part of the Republican primary base. Unfortunately, my answer lacked emotional punch, and it’s not as if I can pretend to be an authority on evangelicals, so there’s no telling if she believed me. But Amy Sullivan is an expert, and she explained Romney’s evangelical problem six years ago here. Have things changed since then? Maybe, but here, via Paul Waldman, is a “lighthearted” report on a mainstream Memphis TV station about Mormon beliefs. I’m willing to bet there’s not another religion in the world they’d be willing to treat this way.

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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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