To the surprise of no one except idealistic dreamers in the gay rights community, the all-volunteer effort to try to place an initiative on this fall's ballot to repeal Proposition 8 has fallen short.

The advocacy group Love Honor Cherish announced this morning it has failed to collect the nearly 700,000 voter signatures that would have been necessary to force a vote this fall.

The group set out on its own last fall after Equality California, the lead organization in fighting Proposition 8 in 2008, announced its strategic decision to delay any attempt to overturn the constitutional ban on same-sex marriages until 2012. It was the consensus opinion of the organization's donors and political strategists that 2012 would present a more favorable political climate to try to overturn the measure. Equality California said it would not raise any money to support a signature-gathering effort in 2010.

Love Honor Cherish sought to collect the necessary signatures through an all-volunteer effort -- something that, despite the lip service once given the intitiative process as a means for ordinary citizens to shape their government, never works.

It's the latest example of how, if you don't have a million or two million dollars to spare, forget about putting an initiative on the ballot.