The great debate shut-out

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Despite the fact that 38 percent of Americans describe themselves as neither Democrats or Republicans, don’t expect to see anyone but Dubya and Bore on the televised presidential horse races or at the debates. And if there is a Perot-caliber surprise in the works to bring a third party candidate up to the podium, wager it’ll be Pat Buchanan, CNN’s perennial love child, says Jeff Cohen of FAIRNESS AND ACCURACY IN REPORTING.

Green candidate Ralph Nader whupped Buchanan in a recent Zogby poll, and yet we won’t be seeing Nader’s mug on the Sunday talk shows or at the debates. The latter is largely because the private Commission on Presidential Debates is controlled by the two major parties, effectively keeping anyone who isn’t a media darling (like Buchanan) off the public radar.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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