California ends early presidential primaries (set for June 2012)

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

California's 16-year experiment with early presidential primary elections is over.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation on Friday that moves next year's presidential party contests from February back to June, to coincide with state primaries on legislative races and ballot measures.

The return to the pre-1996 election schedule is designed to save the state about $100 million and avoid penalties imposed by both the Democratic and Republican parties against states that hold early primaries.

... The bill to restore the June primary, AB80 by Assemblyman Paul Fong, D-Cupertino, won Assembly approval without any dissenting votes and passed the Senate 34-3. Opponents, all Republicans, were quoted in published reports as saying the move would deprive California of influence over next year's battle for the party nomination to oppose President Obama.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/29/BAJD1KH29E.DTL&tsp=1

february in california is bad enough. in chicago? anti-democratic.

... Jerry? :7

he's good man, a cheapskate, and a good listener. cheapskate meaning he knows when to spend money and when not to.
he is doing a good job of cleaning up after a maniac.

a little sunshine next february would be good if you wouldn't mind, tho.

...okay. :) California does sort of need Jerry B. to sort out the financial and Arnold mess. :7

P.S. I'll do my best on the sunshine in February. Sunshine is my dog...I brought her to Chicago once for a lovely walk along Lakeshore Drive. In July, though. ;)

then the 2 of you can go see the glory and the grandeur of lake michigan in the winter. (not a joke)

...when I was 8 or 9, I saw Lake Michigan in that condition. It is the coldest place in the world...almost. :7 (Dad was stationed at Great Lakes at the time. )

we have polar bears here. this new years (i think) they were knee deep in ice and snow.
it's an awesome thing, tho.

...of HUGE drifts of snow. And COLD. My last visit was in 2002...to see Chicago as an adult. I loved it! (Didn't know about the polar bears, though.) :)

i will introduce you to the actual lake michigan polar bear. i think his name is thor.

When the primary was moved to February, the Presidential candidates finally started paying attention to CA. 7 of the 8 Democratic primary contendors showed up at the state Democratic convention which was unheard of before.

The primary was moved from June to Feb because CA was sick of having the best contenders already ruled out in primaries before we ever got to vote.

and which district should vote first would rotate among them, so every 24 years each of us would have an opportunity to vote first for President.

All states in an electoral district would have their primaries on the same day. This way, campaigns would focus on a select geographic region - costs would be lower, as there wouldn't be as much travel required, and the media buys would be more focused as well, since neighboring states would be addressed at the same time.

There'd be an added benefit as well, as the citizens of each district could expect (indeed, demand) that each politician address the regional issues of their concern as well as the national issues, thereby denying the candidates the opportunity to hide behind national platitudes instead of answering specific questions important to a select electorate.

But it'll probably never happen. Too many vested interests with too much at stake in the present, crippled system. Consider, for a moment, that both parties now impose penalties on states that hold primaries earlier than the parties would like.

They need to be in June for once.

Let other areas of the country have a chance

"We" including the media circus that covers them partly out of habit, partly because nothing else is happening. Bring back smoke-filled rooms! (Minus the smoke, of course: this is 2011 after all)

It doesn't matter when California runs its presidential primary; it will always be next to irrelevant. The plain fact of the matter is, most politicians simply don't think California is worth it.

Sure we're the biggest state in the union in terms of population. Sure we have move clout than anyone else at the party convention - on paper. But that doesn't amount to a hill of beans in the practical world of politics.

Actually, California is too big. It's so large and diverse, that it's simply not cost-effective to campaign across the length and breadth of it, appealing to Bay Area progressives, Central Valley farmers, Hollywoodenheads, Mendocino potheads and San Diego surfer dudes.

Full post: http://www.theprovocation.net/2011/07/california-gives-up-on-making.html

The thing that makes California not worth it for politicians is this: where would you appear in person? Do you appear at the LA Colosseum or do you appear at the Redding Convention Center? Neither makes any sense. It only makes sense to go to large fundraisers to pay for ads in the major markets. Meanwhile, the rural parts of the state get ignored.