Politics of Disaster Declaration

USA Today picks up AP overview of the drought and in it mentions that governor's recent request for a disaster declaration for Fresno County.

This is how Schwarzenegger framed the drought in his request letter to the Obama administration. But the McClatchy papers have already run a story predicting the administration will reject the request:

"The federal law authorizing presidential declarations specifically include droughts as the kind of disasters that can be recognized. The selection process, though, tilts more toward disasters with outright physical destruction that overwhelm government forces."

As a result, it has been almost thirty years since the feds declared a disaster because of a drought.