Dems Building War Chest For Right-Wing Power Grab

Some major fudners are preparing for battle over this cockamamie electoral vote initiative being pushed by GOP lawyers:

Leading Democrats are uniting with Hollywood producer Stephen Bing and hedge fund manager Tom Steyer to oppose a California ballot proposal they fear could hand the 2008 presidential election to the Republican nominee [...]

In what is shaping up as an important subplot to the 2008 race, a political committee is being formed by Steyer that will raise money — possibly tens of millions of dollars — to defeat the GOP-backed idea.

The committee is being supported by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Democratic leaders in the Legislature.

The proposal is a "power grab orchestrated by the Republicans," Feinstein and Boxer said in a joint statement. It's "another cynical move to keep the presidency in Republican control."

Democrats were scheduled to announce formation of the committee, Californians for Fair Election Reform, on Thursday.

This is tens of millions of dollars that ought to be going to candidates or local GOTV efforts. The Republicans have already won the battle through embarking on this stubborn and cynical kamikaze maneuver that is doomed to failure. But if they want to play this way, fine. This will certainly raise progressive turnout for the June primaries, which is something we all should be thinking about.