February 1, 2010

Rick Perry Considers Own Mortality

Photo used under a Creatives Commons license by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/scobleizer/3366628529/" target="_blank">Robert Scoble</a>

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At Friday’s final Texas GOP Gubernatorial primary debate, incumbent Gov. Rick Perry, whose name has been floated as a possible presidential candidate in 2012, was asked the standard question of whether he’d promise to finish out his term, if re-re-elected in November. Normally, this is where the candidate issues a bland non-denial, something like “Right now I’m just focusing on fighting for the good people of this state.” Perry’s answer? He can’t make any guarantees because he could just die, and then what, right?

“That’s kind of up to the good Lord from that standpoint. I have no idea what my future holds for me four years down the road. I have a lot of faith in the Lord I hope he’s gonna let me live for four years and if he does I’m gonna serve out my governorship.”

What does Rick Perry know that we don’t?


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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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