We are joined for a special episode of Ojai: Talk of the Town with Josh Gohlke, the former deputy opinion page editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. Gohlke has been writing about and covering Gov. Gavin Newson since his 2018 election. He shares his opinion about the recall process, the opera bouffe of the 46 mostly eccentric candidates, the perils of campaigning with bears, and the terrible urgency of this election. Not only can a sitting governor be replaced with someone who is the choice of fewer than 15 percent of the electorate, but control of the U.S. Senate may well be at stake. (Dianne Feinstein, please don't Ruth Bader Ginsburg us. And while we're at it, Justice Stephen Breyer, don't you either).

Josh and I catch up about our years in Kernville, California, his strange, nigh mystical relationship with former Department of Water Resources chief Frank Gehrke and why journalism still matters. We also talk about the French Laundry's consciousness-altering menu, the forces behind the recall, the dual nihilism on display in the state and country and the deadline for getting ballots into the mail.

We did not talk about Newsom's relationship with either his famous harp-maestro cousin Joanne or his ordeal at the hands of Kimberly Guilfoyle.