Friends,

The end of October is our first fundraising deadline. The first few days of this campaign have whooshed by — political calls, donor calls, media availabilities, and meet ‘n greets — made for a hectic yet productive first ten days. We did a lot of ‘firsts.’ My focus now is securing funding to send the campaign in high gear.

Now, I'm going to ask you to chip in $10, $15, $100, or whatever you can before Sunday at midnight so we can reach our $125,000 fundraising goal.

Not ready to chip in yet? I hope you'll allow me to explain why this is fundraising deadline is mission-critical:

First, campaigns take resources. Without your support, we can't train our volunteers, or outfit our 99 County Commanders. We need to put on events to bring in other donors and to earn a long list of like-minded supporters. We have a message and a resume to garner a broad swath of Iowans.

I truly believe we have a winning message. Job #1 is to strike a blow against the dysfunction in Washington. I know how to get things done across agencies. Action will help hardworking families in the state, expand business opportunities to slow climate change and bring more sustainable ag to our farmers, and bring no nonsense leadership to the US Senate.

Second, one unfortunate but true fact about politics is that everyone puts your fundraising numbers under a microscope. And I do mean everyone, including the press, political insiders here in Iowa, and even Chuck Grassley's campaign. They're all going to pour over our public reports like an ancient manuscript, all in hopes of seeing how strong our campaign is.

Personally, I'd prefer it if we focused on which candidate has the best plans and the best temperament to lead. But since we don't live in that world, I think we ought to send a signal to the political class that our campaign is best positioned to take on Sen. Grassley next fall and win – don't you?

This is our only chance to make a first impression to the political insiders, the pundits, and most of all, the voters. So let's make it count.

Please, if you believe in my ideas and my leadership, chip in from $5 to the $2900 max, or whatever you can – and one gift at a time, we'll get a little bit closer to victory on Election Day.

With all my thanks,

V/r, mtf.

Vice Admiral Mike Franken, U.S. Navy (ret.)