September 8, 2008

Why Every Liberal in Your Office Is Depressed Today

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A new USA Today/Gallup poll has McCain leading Obama 50-46 among registered voters and a stunning 54-44 among likely voters. USA Today points out, a bit incoherently, that the convention has seriously energized the Republican base: “Republicans by 47%-39% were less enthusiastic than usual about voting. Now, they are more enthusiastic by 60%-24%, a sweeping change that narrows a key Democratic advantage.”

There are a number of reasons not to freak out, of course. A lot can change between now and November, polling isn’t everything, Gallup isn’t super-reliable, the debates are an X-factor, yada yada yada. I suspect that won’t be calming a lot of fluttering hearts. Maybe this will: Obama still holds a decisive lead in the electoral college tally.

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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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