July 13, 2010

Stupak to the Rescue?

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Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.)—he of the months of health care/abortion agony—is retiring. But on his way out, he’s making sure to send a little help to his friends. Politico has the story:

Stupak has cut campaign checks for Ohio Rep. Steve Driehaus, Indiana Reps. Joe Donnelly and Baron Hill and Pennsylvania Reps. Chris Carney and Kathy Dahlkemper — all of whom joined Stupak in negotiating with leadership for tighter limits on federal support for abortion. Stupak also donated to West Virginia Rep. Alan Mollohan, another abortion opponent who lost reelection in a May Democratic primary.

Unfortunately for the recipients of Stupak’s largesse, his funds won’t come close to offsetting the money that GOP-leaning pro-life groups have committed to taking out Democrats who oppose abortion rights. Stupak has given out $35,000 in donations to Dem candidates. But the Susan B. Anthony list (an anti-abortion rights political action committee) spent $78,000 in the Mollohan race alone. The PAC has also vowed to spend a total of $1 million defeating Stupak’s allies. Suddenly, $35,000 doesn’t look like so much money. 

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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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