Red Alert: Rats desert sinking ship

It ain't over till it's over, so I'm keeping my eyes wide open until the signature-gathering deadline has passed, just to make sure.

But there does appear to be very good news today for opponents of the GOP "dirty tricks" ballot initiative. The L.A. Times leads the front page with this:

GOP electoral initiative dealt major blows

Two key consultants for an effort to change California's winner-take-all system quit over money and disclosure woes.

Thomas Hiltachk and Kevin Eckery, the front names, have jumped ship. " 'Shambles" is the wrong word," said strategist Marty Wilson, who curtailed his fundraising efforts weeks ago. "The campaign never got off the ground."

Who knows — this could be some sort of crazy fake-out, to get us to let down our guard. I don't trust anything or anybody these days. So yes, the whole nefarious project still bears watching. Meanwhile, both Rick Jacobs (on behalf of the online Courage Campaign) and Chris Lehane (on behalf of the Democratic group that filed competing initiatives, Californians for Fair Election Reform) are both claiming victory.

My problem with that is that it sounds just a little bit too much like "Mission Accomplished."

Update: To be fair, Rick does also warn us to stay on the qui vive. And there is a second initiative, pretty much a twin, whose signature-gathering deadline isn't until February 4 (the original one's deadline is November 29), so truly, we must remain vigilant.