April 9, 2015

Finally, a Candidate for People Who Think Jeb Bush Isn’t WASPy Enough

Tanned. Tested. Ready. Chafee. <I>Tampa Bay Times</i>/ZUMA

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Last week it was Ted Cruz. On Wednesday it was Rand Paul. And now, meet your newest presidential candidate: former Rhode Island Republican senator turned former Rhode Island Democratic governor Lincoln Chafee! Bet you didn’t see that one coming.

Rhode Island Public Radio reported the news this morning:

Chafee said the launch of his exploratory committee will be made via videos posted on his website, Chafee2016.com.

“Throughout my career, I exercised good judgment on a wide range of high-pressure decisions, decisions that require level-headedness and careful foresight,” said Chafee. “Often these decisions came in the face of political adversity. During the next weeks and months I look forward to sharing with you my thoughts about the future of our great country.”

Lincoln Chafee, of the Rhode Island Chafees, won’t be the next president, although he does enter the Democratic primary with strong name recognition among people who use “summer” as a verb. Chafee’s father, great-great grandfather, and great-great uncle all previously served as governor of the state. Lincoln ran for the family seat only after losing his spot in the Senate in 2006 to Sheldon Whitehouse (of the Rhode Island Whitehouses), whose father had roomed with Chafee’s father at some college in New Haven before entering the diplomatic corps (like his father before him).

But there is something worth highlighting in his announcement interview:

Chafee said his focus will be on building a strong middle class coupled with environmental stewardship. Chafee, who voted against former President George W. Bush’s Iraq War, noted that Mrs. Clinton voted for it. He said he aims to send a clear message that “unilateral military intervention has damaged American interests around the world.”

Did you catch that? It’s easy to forget now that she’s the email-destroying, dictator-courting villain of Benghazi, but there was a time when Hillary Clinton’s biggest weakness was something else entirely: Iraq. Clinton’s support for that war (and her inability to assuage its opponents) was the fuel for Sen. Barack Obama’s rise in the polls in 2007. Eight years later, the issue has been all but erased from the political debate.

Don’t bet on Chafee being the man who brings it back.

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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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