(cross-posted on Calitics)

They are getting closer to having enough money to pay for all of the signature gatherers. The $600k they announced earlier would not get it done. They have raised a total of $1.2 million. They will need at least $2 million to pay for the signatures to be collected. Politico is the only one with the story thus far, so regretfully I link:

Backers of a California ballot initiative that would drastically increase Republican chances of retaining the White House in 2008 have raised $1.2 million, including $316,000 in eight days this month - and supporters say they're on pace to qualify for the vote in June.

The group, California Counts - Make Your Vote Count!, reported Tuesday it had raked in $855,000, mostly from a handful of huge contributions, according to a filing with the California Secretary of State's office.

That doesn't include $350,000 in contributions which are either below the reporting threshold of $5,000 or which arrived in the past week, campaign manager Dave Gilliard said.

Contributions above $5k have to be reported to the Secretary of State's office within 10 days.

They are expected to turn in the signatures by the 29th. Then the SoS will do a random test of the signatures to estimate how many are valid. If they pass that test then it goes to the ballot. If it fails, then they will do a manual count.