Finally, the troops are rallying.

Well, "rallying" may be a strong word. How about "working?" "Planning?" Yeah, "planning." A team of consultants is being assembled by both the Maloofs and the Chamber of Commerce to get cracking on a) stopping the bleeding, and b) winning the hearts and minds of Joe Undecided.

I like that Sally Smoley, a former county supervisor, is volunteering for this effort. I think more of that could be helpful. It'll help kill the "big money vs. the grassroots" slogan from being broken out immediately.

Oh, wait.

Crap.

But the grassroots aren't always right. I could start discussing Proposition 13 and our struggling education system, but I'll save it for a rainy day. Just because one side has some money to back its message and the other side has little to no money to back its message is not a direct indicator of quality of argument. You can buy shiny mailers and still be fair and ethical! You can hand-paint signs and use a $20 pin-presser for all your campaign needs and still be underhanded and wrong! Money and righteousness are not mutually exclusive. Look at Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, for goodness sake.

Don't feel bad for the opposition. Thanks to Dan Weintraub, Bob Graswich, Dan Walters, and some of the newsroom staff at The Sacramento Bee, they've got three-and-a-half legs up. The columnists have just about done the con side's work for them. You seriously cannot buy the kind of great publicity Dave Jones and Dave Tamayo and the band of merry anti-warriors have gotten in print. (Well, maybe you can, but probably not at The Bee. Maybe at the New York Post.)

I hope the pro side turns to volunteers, as well. Maybe, if things work out, we can get a Sactown Royalty contingent to volunteer on Election Day? At the absolute least, we're going to support Measures Q & R in advance of the vote. I have some ideas, but I'll take suggestions in the comments.