Iowa and New Hampshire are going to be irrelevent, California is moving primary to Feb.

[Herman Munster]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/us/21primary.html

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Jan. 20 (AP) — California is considering moving up the date of its presidential primary in hope of gaining more clout in picking White House nominees.

State Senator Ron Calderon said Friday that he planned to introduce a bill on Monday that would move the primary from June to February, making it one of the earliest in the country.

“California is the biggest and most influential state in the union, yet our current June presidential primary virtually ensures that the nominees will be determined long before our voters cast their ballots,” Mr. Calderon, the chairman of the Senate elections committee, said in a statement.

A similar bill was introduced in the Assembly on Thursday.

[MonkeyFunk]

1. But the Iowa caucus

and New Hampshire primary are both scheduled for january.

[Herman Munster]

2. california will have 10x the delegates

of iowa and new hampshire

[MonkeyFunk]

3. I know

but I don't understand how it in any way lessens the importance of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Whether California's primary is in February or May, how does it affect what has come before?

[moondust]

10. Pursuing the BIG PRIZES.

Any candidate who believes he/she can win California will likely spend almost all of his/her time there trying to do so and forget about the small states.

Whoever does not win California's delegates is either out or will have to spend their time trying to win the other big states. The smaller states can probably do away with their caucuses and primaries altogether.


On edit: I see no good reason why California's primary should not have the clout of the largest state no matter where it falls on the schedule. I think the problem is people like Terry McAuliffe who preach "unity from beginning to end" that creates a lot of lemmings as well as the hotdog press who cannot wait to chant "no unity, no unity, Dems divided, Dems fragmented..." if one candidate does not emerge as the indisputable frontrunner and likely winner within a few weeks. Unity starts after all the primaries are over as far as I'm concerned. Screw the hotdog press.

[Emit]

6. And Nevada's is , too n/t

[Lasher]

4. The whole system sucks

One day, one vote for everybody to pick their party's presidential candidate. That's what we need.

[Hekate]

5. The bulletins from New Hampshire are fun--voters actually meet candidates personally.BUT...

...sorry, New Hampshire, but California is huge and our voice needs to be actually heard in the primaries.

Doug, a friend of my sister's, posted wonderful bulletins from NH in the last couple of national elections. He had all kinds of first hand impressions of all the candidates -- Lieberman (your kindly uncle) was one I remember. Doug is very literate and in-depth on the issues, too. I definitely envied him this opportunity, because California is so big that my chances of seeing Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, or Wesley Clark in a town hall meeting in my local library are slim to none.

I saw both Bill and Hillary Clinton at City College when they came here to speak during his presidency, and in the crowd surge that lifted me off my feet I actually got to shake his hand. Now that was a thrill, and I admit I finally understood his charisma, but it is nowhere near having coffee with the man.

Likewise I shook Howard Dean's hand -- but only because I was a volunteer at a fundraiser and I pushed my way forward so I could.

"Fundraising" really is how candidates tend to see California. Our wealthy are a cash cow -- but the rest of us should be courted too. I know it's hard to get to even a portion of the state, but with an early enough primary, they could sure try.

Hekate

[Tatiana]

7. This Illinoisan agrees! I hope California moves up the date.

They've got a lot of voters there who deserve attention too.

[Eurobabe]

8. Good, no offense to IA and NH, I had a great time

working in NH for Wes Clark in 2003 & 2004, but we need a LARGE diverse state to confuse the lemmings. :evilgrin:

[DU9598]

9. Congratulations Senator Clinton on your nomination

If California moves to February the race is already over. With her name recognition and her money to buy ads in that expensive and expansive state it would leave only Hillary with the resources to compete and thus win.

[Redneck Socialist]

11. Nooooo, make it stop!

The front loading of the primaries is going to kill us. It only rewards those candidates that already have good name recognition and a ton of money. A Bill Clinton or a Jimmy Carter could never get elected with a heavily front loaded primary schedule.