A strong point on recalls, and I'm sympathetic to it. The trouble is that Hiram Johnson and the folks who gave California direct democracy, including the recall, came out of a time of intense political warfare -- partisan warfare and every other kind. They assumed there would be warfare. (Johnson became famous as a lawyer during the San Francisco graft trials, when he took over for the lead prosecutor who had been shot in the head, in open court, during the middle of a trial). The California Progressives would respond to a comment like that by saying that to rail against political warfare is to howl at the moon. Joe Mathews Irvine senior fellow, New America Foundation www.newamerica.net/blog/blockbuster-democracy/