Allright, where's that smoke coming from?

["Sysko, Dustin" <dsysko@ball.com>]

Darnit, my lil' getaround is turning into something quite evil,
methinks. This weekend my hood release cable broke, and as I was driving
home, a small puff of white smoke, accompanied by an electrical smell
appears from the area under the instrument panel, to the immediate right
of the steering wheel. This happened at the precise moment that I turned
on the right turn signal. In recent months, the right turn signal has
behaved oddly when the fuse for the rear defrost has been intact,
causing an intermittent blink of the defrost light. This may be the
result of a short somewhere near the trunk wiring harness. Now, the left
turn signal blinks at twice the normal rate, and the right signal turns
on only when I fiddle with the turn signal lever, and also blinks at
twice the normal rate. I have checked all of the lights, and they work
correctly when the hazard switch is activated. 
So, what do you think the problem is? Short somewhere? Voltage regulator
cooked? Blinker solenoids busted? All of the above? I could really use
your collective advice on this. D'you think I should rip out all of the
wiring, and build my own harnesses from scratch? 
TIA!
Dustin Sysko
Boulder, CO
80306