The California Secretary of State made the announcement tonight on the radio in a tone of voice that sounded like he was reading his own death warrant.

The recall needed about 900,000 valid signatures. The Secretary of State certified 1.3 million. Total number of signatures gathered, about 1.6 million.

To really appreciate this you have to have been here, and heard the play-by-play the past year and the struggles the recall proponents had being taken seriously. The big mistake the Democrats made was laughing at the stupid recall effort, and not marshalling a defence until it was too late. A couple of last-minute attempts at legal end runs failed.

Look for some new fast and loose end run play by Davis and his crew. The Democrats have not yet begun to fight, and they'll be damned if they're going to leave this up to the voters.