It appears that the dirty trick is indeed a Frankenstein. See my post on Calitics last night for background. Also, Frank has an excellent piece on all of the Giuliani ties. The working theory right now is that the CA Republican consultants saw a cash cow and despite the polling, newspaper opposition and the prospect of the Dems really ramping up they decided to see if they could get some big national funders to kick down a couple million dollars to have a go at collecting the signatures.

They have to get 500,000 signatures in less than two weeks while half of the state (in fact mostly conservative areas) is on fire. The odds are not great, but it is not impossible. Needless to say I have been working on getting up to speed on what exactly is going on.

At the same time, San Diego County is on fire. The tiny town of Potrero where Blackwater is trying to open its base was hit hard by the fires on Sunday and one man died. The deceased was the business partner of one of the main accidental activists who has been battling Blackwater. He and his son were trying to beat back the fire when it overran him and a group of firefighters. A heroic rescue saved the son and several firefighters are in intensive care. That quote is actually the most recent sign that Jan the activist is ok. Nobody has heard directly from her since Sunday. I and two colleagues were scheduled to travel down to CA to meet with her and the rest of the organizers this weekend. Who knows if we will be able to go. Hopefully the town will still be there. It escaped destruction, but last I heard it was threatened by a new fire. Thinking good thoughts…

Oh and guess who is coming to CA on Thursday? The President. No, he is not planning on surveying the damage from Air Force 1. I wonder if he will play a guitar and eat cake though.