Last year (July of 2007, to be exact), I was walking through the Tenderloin District of San Francisco and noticed this huge banner on the side of a building at the intersection of Turk and Hyde, sporting the phrase,
“Carole Migden: LEADING California’s Campaign Against The War.”

Say what? The State of California has a “campaign” against “The War”?

What campaign? First I’ve heard of it. And which “war”? The war in Afghanistan? The “war on terror”? The war in Iraq? And in what way is Carole Midgen the uncommander-in-chief?

Carole Midgen, for those who don’t know, is a California State Senator, representing Marin County and this part of San Francisco.

Most importantly, Midgen is only a state politician, and as such has absolutely no role or decision-making power when it comes to national foreign policy. It’s not like she’s a congressperson or some other federal official.

I realize that this is a moot point by now, over a year after the fact (especially since Migden will be replaced in November by a new State Senator), but: Who paid for this banner? And why?