Dancing with DeLay

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How far Tom Delay’s fallen. The former Majority Leader has been reduced to rallying his base on behalf of a contestant on the reality TV series “Dancing with the Stars.” Of late, Delay has launched a media campaign for country singer Sara Evans, who recently filed for divorce from her husband Craig Schelske, a former Republican candidate for Congress. Here’s what DeLay had to say about Evans in an email:

“Sara Evans has been a strong supporter of the Republican Party and represents good American values in the media. From singing at the 2004 Republican Convention to appearing with candidates in the last several election cycles, we have always been able to count on Sara for her support of the things we all believe in. Let’s show Sara that same support by watching and voting for her each week to help her win this competition. One of her opponents on the show is ultra liberal talk show host Jerry Springer. We need to send a message to Hollywood and the media that smut has no place on television by supporting good people like Sara Evans.”

Talk show host and former Cincinnatti mayor, Jerry Springer, is another “Dancing with the Stars 3” contestant who announced in September that he would not run for Senate.

That’s right, the man once known as “The Hammer” has gone from ruling the House with an iron fist to letting Jerry Springer really have it.

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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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