In the post, Flyover State, I pointed to the increasing problems that Governor Newsom is facing in his recall election.

For Newsom the election has gone from being something that can be dismissed – including legal efforts to stop the recall petition that started the whole thing – to being a real possibility that he could be booted from office on September 14.

He’s got a ton of money, vastly more than anybody else and in terms of powering the political machines to get the vote out, it might yet save him.

However, in addition to falling polls Gavin appears to have been abandoned by at least some Democrats in the state, including those opposed to his “equity” plan for Covid-19 vaccinations. However, in true tribal fashion most have not.

The election has even been nationalised to a certain extent, as the NYT expresses its fears that a Republican governor could replace California Senator Dianne Feinstein – who is yet another frail, old (88), dementia-ridden Democrat – with a Republican, breaking the 50:50 tie in the Federal Senate. Panic stations for the Left!

Now he’s facing more bad news, although it’s a regular feature of California at this time of year. Fire.

The thing is that for once Newsom does not bear responsibility, at least not solely As detailed in this post, responsibility for these environmental problems goes back decades and lies at the feet of both Californian and Federal Democrat policies. Newsom has begrudgingly, and only by implication, admitted the policies are wrong by directing the state to start clearing underbrush and such, with fire if needed: but that will take years to have any positive effect.

In any case his own party is filled with activists who are more than happy to take advantage of the fires and drought to push their efforts and ideas in fighting against AGW.

As a result, Gavin can’t point to these charts, even if he wanted to.

It’s a case of being trapped by their own rhetoric. If you scream about such things as a way of getting votes, like droughts and heat waves, then sooner or later voters will start asking why you’ve not done anything about it, like building more reservoirs. As with the fires, such politicians cannot then turn to charts like the following since they already dismissed them.