July 1, 2011

Tim Pawlenty’s Weak Fundraising Haul

Gage Skidmore/Flickr

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In the 2012 presidential money race, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty’s second quarter haul was disappointing, to say the least. His campaign reeled in just $4.2 million, a disappointing sum compared to the $20 million that Mitt Romney, seen by many as the GOP frontrunner, is thought to have raised in the past three months. (Romney is due to announce his fundraising numbers after the holiday weekend.)

Here’s the Washington Post‘s “Fix” blog on Pawlenty’s numbers:

Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant confirmed the number, adding that the governor “begins the third quarter with more available cash-on-hand than the Republicans who won the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary had in July 2007.” Conant offered no specifics about Pawlenty’s cash on hand total. He did note that Pawlenty’s fundraising total did include general election money that he would not be able to spend unless and until he becomes the party’s nominee.

At the end of June 2007, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee had $437,000 in the bank while Arizona Sen. John McCain had $3.2 million on hand as well as $1.8 million in debt. Huckabee won Iowa, McCain New Hampshire. McCain went on to be the party’s presidential nominee in 2008.

Spin aside, the number is somewhat disappointing for Pawlenty who had been hoping to emerge as the clear pick for people not enamored with Romney by posting a strong number in the second fundraising quarter.

A Pawlenty aide said the number was “slightly off” the campaign’s goal of raising $4.5 million for the quarter but added: “There are a lot of people waiting on the field to prove themselves.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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