May 27, 2016

Feeling the Bern in California

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The LA Times reports that Bernie Sanders is doing something unusual: campaigning everywhere in California. Why?

All week Bernie Sanders has galloped about California, showing up in places where presidential candidates usually don’t tread. On Sunday he was in Vista. On Tuesday he hit Riverside and San Bernardino. On Wednesday he was in Cathedral City and Lancaster. On Thursday, Ventura. On Saturday, he’ll be in Santa Maria.

….His move to the exurbs and to other less definitely Democratic turf is driven by several realities particular to California. Foremost is the state of the Democratic campaign: Sanders continues to trail Clinton, even if the race appears to be narrowing. So he needs every vote he can get….Another factor makes the exurbs a potential goldmine for Sanders, in particular: While the state as a whole took a giant hit during the Great Recession, the exurbs were particularly hard hit.

There’s actually a simpler explanation for this: 2016 is the first time in half a century that anyone has bothered campaigning at all in a California presidential primary in June—let alone for an entire month. In the past, nomination fights have been over by March or April, and California’s only real role has been to act as a base for fundraising. And there’s not much point in holding a fundraiser in Lancaster.

So that explains all the exurbs. Sure, they might be Bernie territory, but he still wouldn’t be there in an ordinary year. He’d either be out of the race entirely or else he’d already be the winner, and he’d be holding $5,000-a-plate dinners in Brentwood and Atherton.

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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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