November 4, 2008

The Difference Two Years Makes

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Two years ago yesterday, SurveyUSA interviewed 600 Americans in each state of the union. Those 30,000 voters were asked who they would vote for in 2008 if the candidates were Barack Obama and John McCain. In that (mock) election, Senator McCain won 510 electoral votes. Obama carried his home state of Illinois, his birth state of Hawaii, and the overwhelmingly Democratic District of Columbia. The map looked like this:

ecv-2006.jpg

Even if the polls are wrong and Obama loses, no one thinks the map will look like that tonight. Guess Obama was serious about that “Change” business. Now that’s what you call expanding the map.

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DECEMBER IS MAKE OR BREAK

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again—any amount today.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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