March 17, 2009

When Are the Steelers Visiting the White House?

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In light of today’s news that Steelers owner Dan Rooney will be the next US Ambassador to Ireland, it’s only appropriate to ask the most pressing question in Steeler Nation (or at least the little corner of Steeler Nation that works at Mother Jones): when are the Pittsburgh Steelers, who won Super Bowl 43 on February 1, getting their customary visit to the White House? Rooney and head coach Mike Tomlin are both huge Obama fans, and before the Super Bowl various Steelers players cited a visit to Barack Obama’s White House as extra motivation. Obama himself professes to have been a Steelers fan growing up in Hawaii, and admitted before the Super Bowl that he was rooting for the Steelers over the Cardinals.

Yet six weeks have passed since the Steelers won their NFL-leading sixth ring and no mention of a visit. I called the White House press office this morning to ask for an explanation and received a beleaguered “I don’t know” that had strong hints of “please stop bothering us.” I understand the White House is busy, put c’mon folks. We’re going to have a March Madness champion soon, and NHL and NBA winners after that. You can’t let these things pile up.

Photo by flickr user Pixteca MX used under a Creative Commons license.

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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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