From the beginning, the financial plan of this State Senate campaign has been built on a simple three-part structure: 1) hold an initial online fundraiser to launch the campaign; 2) hold a second, larger fundraiser to fuel a successful marketing campaign for the Primary; and 3) hold a final, no-holds-barred, apocalyptic online drive come September 2010, when everyone has finally tuned in, to carry us over the finish line in November. A very tough row to hoe.

Tough, but it was the only way to gradually overcome the huge disadvantages faced by an outsider campaign in a County the size of Chittenden. And each of our last two drives, in July 2008 and February 2010, each spaced about six months apart, were highly successful.

But we’re knocking on September’s door, and that means the time for the toughest of the three fundraisers is now.

But before we make that last, crucial ask, let’s survey some of the things we’ve accomplished together over the last 15 months together.

* We’ve built and deployed a complete campaign apparatus, one that stands us in good stead today: website, volunteers, lawn signs, social media presence, and lots and lots of solid shoe leather in every single village and town. We’ve talked about single payer and universal broadband and expanded mass transit and wind power in every hospitable living room from Jericho to Jonesville.

* Easy to forget now, but there was a moment when the fate of Yankee’s license extension in the Vermont Senate was a perfectly open question. We came out early and aggressively on that issue, making the case at our September 2009 kick-off that the health risks were real, the plant must be retired, and Entergy Louisiana must bear the full and entire cost of decommissioning, plus the cost of retraining and transitioning the work force down in Vernon.

Fair to say that we added a strong voice to that debate, and helped frame the campaign conversation at an early stage.

* We came through the Primary in good position to win the General, and followed that win with another the next day in the coveted Democracy for America Grass-Roots All-Star Endorsement race.

* And finally, most importantly, we remain the only campaign at the state or local level to produce actual video documentation of illegalities and dirty tricks by the Dubie for Governor campaign. If you haven’t seen this footage, you should treat yourself, because it’s not everyday that a camera crew accidentally captures Dubie Co-Pilots actively trying to disable another campaign’s plane.

We promised you from the start that this campaign would never be boring. Promises kept, folks.

It’s a fine level of accomplishment, but of course none of it matters unless we finish in the top six come November. And the hard truth is that we can’t do that without raising the money to put direct mail in every mailbox in Chittenden County. Twice.

So we come to you again — I come to you again — to ask for your direct help. Act Blue has served us incredibly well this campaign; they make donating online utterly painless and trouble-free, as many of you know already. The Act Blue link is here for the clicking.

Put it like this: if you have ever even once considered donating to this campaign, or to some campaign this cycle that shows itself worthy, please help us now. We love smaller donations, which have been the mainstay of this campaign, and we love the larger, rarer ones, which have occasionally leveraged us out of gaping holes at key moments.

Either way, hope you’ll help now, because there won’t be a next time. The barn either goes up now, and up for good, or it doesn’t go up at all. But what was true 15 months ago remains true today: we really believe in this, and we hope you do too.