February 4, 2009

Potential Explanation for the Gregg Pick…

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Judd Gregg - Commerce Secretary Nominee

Wonk Room notes that while Commerce Secretary nominee Sen. Judd Gregg is a conservative Republican, he respects science and has long been a congressional champion of the oceans. That’s important, because as Secretary of Commerce he will oversee a budget that devotes a full 60 percent of its resources to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is one of the many miscellaneous agencies that, for one reason or another, have ended up in Commerce.

So Obama gets to say he is the first president since Teddy Roosevelt to appoint three members of the opposing party to his cabinet, and Gregg is actually good on his department’s most important concern.

I’m slightly less befuddled than I was yesterday.

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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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