September 4, 2008

Obama Fundraising Goes Bonkers After GOP’s Day-Long Attack

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Proving Sean at fivethirtyeight.com correct, Barack Obama has raised around $8 million since Sarah Palin’s speech last night. Better than the $7 million McCain got after the Palin pick was announced. Democrats I’ve spoken to since the speech have had two reactions, sometimes simultaneously: (1) anger about the fact that their guy got roughed up pretty bad, and (2) fear that the GOP has a new super-effective and super-likeable surrogate. Both emotions lead to the opening of wallets. Maybe Obama doesn’t want people to calm down?

For the record, Obama has responded to the beating he took last night. It’s after the jump.

“You wouldn’t know that this is such a critical election by watching the convention last night. I know we had our week and so, you know, the Republicans deserve theirs. But it’s been amazing to me to watch. Over the last two nights, if you sit there and you watch it, you’re hearing a lot about John McCain – and he’s got a compelling biography as a POW. You’re hearing an awful lot about me, most of which is not true. What you’re not hearing is a lot about you.”

“I mean, you haven’t heard one word about how they’re going to make the health care system work so that if a union’s negotiating with a company, it’s not all just a discussion about higher premiums, and you can actually start talking about higher wages and benefits. You haven’t heard one word about how we’re going to create more apprenticeship programs like the ones that we have here or give other people a chance to train in new trades. You haven’t heard a word about getting serious about green and alternative energy, the kind of work that is resulting in all the expansion and additional hiring here. You haven’t heard a word about how we’re going to strengthen unions so that working people get a decent stake. You haven’t heard a word about how we’re going to improve math and science education so that we can hire more engineers to create more products in green technology. You haven’t heard a word about how we’re going to deal with any aspect of the economy that is affecting you and your pocketbook day-to-day. Haven’t heard a word about it. I’m not exaggerating. Literally, two nights, they have not said a word about it. They’ve had a lot to say about me, but they haven’t had anything to say about you. And the thing that I’m insisting on in this election is that we can’t keep playing the same political games we always play.”

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

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate