John – I’m about to ask you to contribute $5 to my battleground campaign before midnight tonight – but first, there are a few things you should know:

• I’m running for re-election in the most competitive district in the nation. I’m neck and neck with my right-wing opponent in the polls, and Republicans just spent $1.2 million on an attack ad blitz against me.
• Early voting begins THIS FRIDAY, September 23rd. The resources we have in the bank by the end of this week will fund our final paid media efforts as voters head to the polls. We can’t risk ceding the airwaves to my opponent and her radical backers.
• We’re falling $45,924 behind on our end-of-quarter fundraising goal. This is the most important fundraising deadline of our campaign and everyone will be using our publicly reported fundraising numbers as an indicator of whether we have what it takes to keep this seat blue.

Asking you to chip in $5 might not seem like much – but if everyone reading this chipped in $5 right now, we’d be in a much stronger position. So, can I count on you to chip in $5 today?

– Elaine