Fundraising Among the True Believers

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In the Boston Phoenix, David Bernstein mulls over Sarah Palin’s future and suggests that one path she might take is lending her name to a big-time conservative fundraiser who has the infrastructure to rake in the bucks but lacks the star power:

One name-brand who takes that route is radio talk-show host Michael Reagan, son of the late president. He has teamed up with David Bossie — a Republican operative so sleazy that, when Bossie was a top Clinton-scandal investigator for House Republicans, Gingrich had to fire him for having “embarrassed” the effort.

Reagan lends his name and face as “co-founder” of, among other things, Bossie’s Presidential Coalition. That PAC raised and spent about $6.5 million in 2007–’08….Of that $6.5 million, three-quarters was spent on fundraising….More than $400,000 of the rest went to salaries….mostly to Bossie and his cohort Michael Boos.

After rent, insurance, and legal and accounting fees, that left less than $150,000 — about two percent of the contributions — to put to actual use.

Of course, once people start contributing, you can make money just by renting their names to other fundraisers.  So what would a list of Palin’s true believer fans be worth?  Bernstein’s list of the drawing power of other conservative stars is on the right, and it’s an interesting metric of who the big draws in wingnut land really are.  I’m not sure where Palin would slot in on that list, but surely she could outdraw Fred Thompson, couldn’t she?

(Via Conor Friedersdorf.)

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

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