The announcement came only 58 minutes after the polls closed on Tuesday night. With the defeat of ballot measures designed to stave off a financial calamity, the Bay Area Council was amping up its campaign to re-invent state government.

"In the run-up to the recent special election," the announcement said, "the movement for a California Constitutional Convention kept a deliberate quiet in order to let the ballot measures run their course. Now that the election is behind us, the need for a Constitutional Convention has never been clearer."

In November 2010, sponsors hope the state Legislature or voters will agree to call a constitutional convention to reform state government - although there is not yet agreement on how to choose the delegates to the convention or what would be the scope of their deliberations. The announcement said sponsors will schedule town hall meetings all over California in the coming months.

You can read my March column on the campaign for a constitutional convention here, and you can learn more about what is being called the Repair California campaign by clicking here.