Remember the latest Republican election scam? The one where they were going to hold a referendum to eliminate winner-take-all in California only, so whichever districts were still voting for Kool-Aid would throw the election to a Republican in the electoral college?* Turns out the winger billionaire who was secretly funding the scam was a Giuliani suporter! LA Times:

A confidant of Republican presidential contender Rudolph W. Giuliani, and one of the candidate's biggest donors, was the source of a mystery $175,009.11** donation to a stalled initiative proposal seen as an attempt to help the GOP win a portion of California's 55 electoral votes.

New York hedge fund billionaire Paul E. Singer issued a statement Friday acknowledging that he gave the six-figure gift, ending speculation over its secrecy and fanning criticism of the Giuliani campaign.

Giuliani said he knew nothing about it, and his spokeswoman, Maria Comella, called the contribution "completely independent from our campaign."

Of course, of course.

But here's the weird thing:

The winger billionaires spent, what, $300 million [No pay wall! Links! Yay!] to build the VRWC (and that's not even counting their media properties). By the side of that $175,009.110 [sorry] is chump change. Pete! Open the petty cash drawer and buy the election for Rudy, wouldja? Didn't happen.

Winger billionaires didn't get where they are by pissing away their own money, regardless of what they might do with ours. So if Singer doesn't want to own Rudy, and wouldn't throw a pitiful little not-even-seven-figure check Rudy's way, that says to me that he doesn't think much of Rudy's chances.***

Or of Rudy.

I wonder what Singer knows that we don't?

NOTE Via Big Orange.

NOTE * It's important to have back-up, in case the Bush Court can't make the selection itself, of course.

NOTE ** OK, it was an even $175,000. I just couldn't resist, not with all those other $9.11 checks that some over-zealous staffer, and absolutely not the extremely not-9/11-exploiting Guiliani campaign, collected.

NOTE *** The other possibility is that his hedge fund got hosed in the credit crunch, in which case I'm playing the world's smallest violin, unless the contagion spreads to the real economy, i.e. mine.