December 12, 2007

Dems Lose in Ohio and Virginia Special Congressional Elections

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If you are waiting with bated breath for the results of today’s special elections in Ohio and Virginia, here they are. In Ohio, Democrat Robin Weirauch lost pretty badly in a solidly conservative district. Final tally: Republican Bob Latta 57%, Weirach 43%. The only good news out of Ohio is that the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee spent $428,000 on the race, which totals nearly one-fifth of its entire cash-on-hand.

In Virginia, it was even more lopsided. Another inexperienced Democrat was unable to take a conservative district away from the Republicans. Final tally here: Republican Rob Wittman 61%, Democrat Philip Forgit 37%. Forgit, an Iraq War veteran with no political background, would have been an interesting figure in Congress, but the moderate Wittman proved too tough. Turnout was just 16 percent.

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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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