March 6, 2008

House Races Across the Country: Time for the GOP to Scare Up Some Dollars

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A list of the 24 Democratic-held House seats that the Republican Party is targeting in ’08 was released today, and it provided the Campaign Finance Institute with everything it needed to go to town.

The folks there compared the fundraising and cash-on-hand for the supposedly weak Democratic incumbents and their Republican challengers. Take a look at these numbers.

Arizona 8
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) – $1,317,357 on hand
Timothy Bee (R) – $161,246 on hand

California 11
Rep. Jerry McNerney (D) – $924,605 on hand
Dean Andal (R) – $471,190 on hand

Kentucky 3
Rep. John Yarmuth (D) – $659,231 on hand
Erwin Roberts (R) – $95,076 on hand

Texas 23
Rep. Ciro Rodriquez (D) – $661,224 on hand
Francisco “Quico” Canseco (R) – $45,430 on hand

These numbers, lopsided as they are, were more or less chosen at random. In no race does the Republican challenger have more money than the Dem incumbent; in only one, New Hampshire’s 1st, is it even close. Usually, the Democrat has anywhere from two to six times the cash on hand. The exception is Oregon’s 5th, where there is no incumbent.

Check out the full list here. And check out how much each of the major party organs have here. There is a serious problem for the GOP. It’s what I meant when I said John McCain has to rebuild the Death Star.

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.

payment methods

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.

payment methods

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