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As I mentioned this morning, I was working on a piece about Chris Dodd’s reelection campaign for the print magazine. That’s obviously moot now, but I’ve recast it as an explanation of what went wrong:

The writing was on the wall for Chris Dodd in December, when even Peter Schiff, the longshot candidate in the fiercely contested Republican primary, was leading the five-term incumbent in the polls. “We have a unique opportunity,” Schiff assured supporters in December, during an appearance I attended in Watertown. Dodd “is so unpopular that just about anybody can beat him.”

Apparently Dodd and his political advisers ultimately arrived at a similar conclusion. The senator announced Wednesday that he would not seek reelection.

The rest of the piece is here.

Kevin is traveling today and tomorrow.

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December is make or break for us. A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. A strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength. A weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again today—any amount.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

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