Dump Corzine. Draft Bruce!

Photo by flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom/2922450866/">Barack Obama</a> used under a <a href="http://www.creativecommons.org">Creative Commons</a> license.

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It’s become increasingly clear that New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, a Democrat, is in big trouble in his re-election race against former US Attorney Chris Christie. Do Democrats really want to lose the governorship of an important state like New Jersey because they’re backing a weak, unpopular incumbent? Losing the race will undoubtedly be touted as a rebuke to President Barack Obama’s agenda. Thankfully, there’s a solution: it starts with a “B” and ends in a “ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce.” That’s right: Democrats should draft the Boss for governor.

It’s clear that Springsteen has a lot of sympathy for liberal causes—he may even be to the left of Corzine. The Boss campaigned hard for Obama, so Obama might be inclined to back him if he has to run as an independent (the primary already happened)—although I think that Corzine has enough good sense to pull an LBJ and decline to run if he sees that Bruce is getting in. Bruce is immensely qualified—he’s already been the Boss in New Jersey for decades. Being governor would simply formalize the arrangement. Springsteen also makes electoral sense—do you really think anyone is going to be able to beat Bruce Friggin Springsteen in New Jersey? Of course not.

Now, some of you might quibble and say that there’s no indication that the Boss is even interested in being governor. That, of course, is where you come in: some enterprising citizen should register DraftBruce.com and TheBossforNJ.net and so on and start the campaign to get Bruce to announce his candidacy. If everything goes as planned, Springsteen will crush Christie, spend a few years in charge of the Garden State, and then run for President. That way my real goal will be achieved: the Maxwell Sachel Weinberg vice-presidency. Also the Clarence Clemons-run Department of Defense.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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