March 15, 2007

Brownback Doing Just Fine in the Polls, Thank You Very Much

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In an encouraging sign for right-wing Bible thumpers who want to see the American government run like a Christian theocracy, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback (“God’s Senator”!) has done surprisingly well in recent head-to-head polls against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Sen. Hillary Clinton – 46%
Sen. Sam Brownback – 41%

Sen. Barack Obama – 49%
Sen. Sam Brownback – 34%

I hope we can chalk this up to the fact that most Americans don’t know much about Sam Brownback. Like how he refused to sign Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America because it wasn’t conservative enough. Or how his political idol is Jesse Helms. Or how his wife boasts, “Basically, I live in the kitchen.” Or how he once stonewalled a judicial confirmation because the nominee had attended the lesbian commitment ceremony of a longtime neighbor’s daughter. Or how he said that abortion has become such a problem in America that youth today “feel they’re the survivors of a holocaust.” Either Americans are willing to answer poll questions about people they are almost completely ignorant of, or there’s some divine intervention going on here.

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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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