FLASHREPORT

Those liberal "wishful thinkers" out there who were quick to pronounce the proposed ballot measure to change the method of allocation of California Presidential Electors to a By-Congressional-District method will not be pleased with this news.
 
I just got off of the phone with GOP strategist and consultant Dave Gilliard, and am pleased to tell you that as of today, the effort to place this initiative on the June, 2008 ballot is not only back, but is moving ahead at full speed.  As a matter of fact, signature gatherers were out on the street all of last weekend, and will continue to collect signatures until the initiative qualifies!
 
Here's the scoop.  As many of you may be aware, the initial effort on this effort was spearheaded by prominent political law attorney Tom Hiltachk.  A couple of weeks ago, Hiltachk made a decision to pull the plug on his role with the qualification efforts -- but made it clear that he was happy for someone to pick up the baton and keep on running with it.
 
Well, the challenge has been met, and by quite a credible group of folks.  Today the California Counts Committee was formed, and the effort is underway to bring this important reform to the June ballot.  The team?  Heading up the all-important fundraising effort it longtime veteran GOP fundraising Anne Dunsmore of Capital Campaigns.  Ed Rollins is onboard as a senior advisor and spokesman for the effort.  GOP leader (and FR blogger) Jim Lacy is the legal counsel and Treasurer of the committee, and National Tax Limitation Committee President Lew Uhler is playing a key role.  Managing the effort with be Dave Gilliard, who has a long track record of managing ballot measure campaigns in California, most recently quarterbacking the successful qualification and passage of Jessica's Law.  Of course, with Gilliard comes the equally as capable Chris Wysocki, who brings a lot of experience to the table.
 
The numbers look like this -- the "Hiltachk effort" netted around 110,000 signatures, and the target that is needed to be able to qualify for the June ballot (by sample) is 650,000 signatures.  This means that the California Counts team has until just before Thanksgiving to bring in about 540,000 signatures. 
 
I have my own experience with signature gathering efforts for California ballot measures, having played a role as the campaign coordinator of Proposition 227 back in 1998 (to end bilingual education) and can tell you that with a combined professional, direct mail, and volunteer effort -- this is a very achievable goal.
 
Speaking of the volunteer effort -- the California Counts committee is going o be offering a "bounty program" of $1 per signature for any individuals or groups that want to participate in the volunteer effort to gather signatures.
 
If you want more information on this effort, or want to get some signature petitions -- you can click here.
 
In the meantime, this is very bad news for Hillary Clinton and her left-wing cronies.  If this measure passes next year, it means that they will not be able to take California for granted -- which is undoubtedly their current game plan!