February 16, 2010

Evan Bayh Fail

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Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), who announced on Monday that he will retire at the end of this term (perhaps throwing the seat to a Republican), continues to be incredibly unhelpful to Democrats. Today, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), the House minority leader, is blasting out Bayh’s statement on CBS Tuesday morning that Congress hasn’t created even “one job” in the private sector over the past six months. Aside from the fact that he’s endorsing the other party’s talking points, Bayh is just wrong. According to an estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus plan passed by Congress last year ensured that there were between 800,000 and 2.4 million more jobs in the fourth quarter of 2009 than there would have been without the stimulus.

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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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