I predict there will be ice in the parking lot, too. Uff da!

Woo Hoo!

Primaries are the key to change. Due to their low turnout, it's always possible to alter the results through strong GOTV efforts.

Hillary already has the nomination.

whether anyone will be left worth voting for by the time May 17th rolls around.

Last time the only two left standing MONTHS before my primary arrived were the two I knew, heading in, were those I most fervently did NOT want to see become the nominee. I disliked both of them. Since the nomination was generally wrapped up in favor of one, I voted for the other as a protest vote. Not that I wanted that candidate to be nominated, either. It seemed like my only choice left.

I will, as always, choose from the list of choices before Iowa and New Hampshire, and support them with $$ and letter writing from afar. Then, when the field is narrowed to neo-liberal non-choices before May 17th, I'll write a better Democrat in, and turn the whole damned thing off until it's over.

It's possible that this year could be different, since California is in June. With that many votes on the line, more candidates may stay in longer, and no candidate can claim to have wrapped anything up early. If so, I'll be engaged and busy all the way through June.

I think the last time it was relevant was in 68. I really don't know why the state does not move it up so politicians who always come to the state for money would have to come to it for votes.

The '08 primary was in February. Super Tuesday.

The last primary I voted in for CA, in '04, was March 2.

Is that wrong?

http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/statewide-elections/2008-statewide-direct-primary/

you'll find that there are no presidential primary candidates listed. That's because CA's presidential primary was on February 5th.

http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/results/votes/

Although it is weird they would have two primaries. It seems an enormous waste of money. That said, why did they move it to June? Why not have everything early so it will count?

CA wants to have an early impact, so they move just the presidential primaries earlier. They may do so again this time around, since the OP just gives us a preliminary schedule, which places the presidential primaries in June in CA on their official date.

It was an attempt to get some recognition for California as something other than the candidates' ATM. Our results got lost in the Super Tuesday sweep, and the primary went back to June.

the '04 presidential primary, which was the last I voted in before moving out of state after 37 years of residency, wasn't in June, either. It was in March.

Still, as a voter in a late primary state, I hope CA waits until June. It will at least feel like my primary is relevant if the nomination isn't already locked up by the time it rolls around.

Didn't you hear?