CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2019 OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2019 OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“WHAT A
DIFFERENCE A DATE MAKES! A SEA CHANGE FOR THE CALIFORNIA PRIMARY”
Suddenly,
California has gone from irrelevant, ignored and unvisited to vitally
important, thoroughly analyzed and swamped with tourists dressed up like
presidential candidates and their aides.
Nowhere
was that more obvious than at the state Democratic Party convention early this
month, a gathering that has lately seen nothing bigger than in-house fights
over who would be the next state party chairman, a job with little influence
over public policy.
But
this year, 14 presidential candidates staged a cattle call in San Francisco.
But not until they’d already campaigned everywhere from San Diego and Los
Angeles to Oakland, Fresno and the Silicon Valley.
This
shift can be traced solely to a date change – with a little boost along the way
from California’s uniquely open elections. The change was completely
predictable when state legislators two years ago switched the 2020 California
primary from early June to the first Tuesday in March.
The
move potentially puts California into the most influential spot it has held
since George McGovern and Hubert Humphrey fought here for the 1972 Democratic
nomination, crisscrossing California for weeks in an era when few other states
had primaries. Back then, it was mostly party officials who decided the
presidential nominations.
As more
and more states created primaries and caucuses, California left its vote in
early June. So presidential candidates ignored this state except when they needed
to refill their money bags. Then they came here hat in hand, but engaged almost
exclusively with the wealthiest Californians, with big-dollar fund-raisers in
the Silicon Valley and West Los Angeles their most frequent venues.
Things
are very different now. For one thing, California Democrats will not simply
hold one large vote. Yes, dozens of Democratic National Convention delegates
will be awarded based on the statewide tally. But there will also be 53 smaller
primaries, between four and six delegates at stake in every congressional
district.
Little-known
and poorly-financed candidates thus can practice retail politics here, in
contrast to the TV commercials, Internet and social media employed in other
statewide California elections. Rural and suburban Northern California
districts dominated by Republican voters can now play significant roles in
Democratic politics, if candidates go there. Chances are, any Democrat spending
significant time and energy in those areas can pick up more delegates than they
could with a marginal performance in the Iowa caucuses.
The
moved-up primary also means Californians can start voting by mail and in
early-voting centers around the same time Iowans are negotiating January
snowstorms en route to rowdy caucuses in high school gyms and junior high
multi-purpose rooms. Knowing this, expect major TV and Internet activity to
begin here around the middle of the fall football season.
The new
timing will bring a sea change in Californians’ political experiences, just
when the state’s switch to a mostly-mail voting system makes another type of
change.
Into
this brave new California world come a score of Democrats who think they’d make
fine presidents. Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders has been here several times
already and will be back more often as the year goes on, a big change from
2016, when he didn’t get here until after his second-place primary fate was
settled.
Former
Vice President Joseph Biden, who didn’t attend the state Democratic convention,
will be here plenty.
California
Sen. Kamala Harris figures to meet far more voters and venture into places she
never went while running twice for state attorney general and once for the
Senate. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who wants to break up Silicon
Valley’s near monopolies like Google and Facebook and others like Amazon.com
will come face to face with some of their employees, whose fate she wants to
change dramatically.
Current
second-tier candidates like former Texas Congressman Robert (Beto) O’Rourke and
South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg will get plenty of chances to move up
into the first tier.
So will
many others now pulling 1 percent or less in the polls.
Which
means moving up the primary sees California moving on up in many ways, from
gaining political clout to drawing hundreds of millions of campaign dollars.
All of it can do nothing but good for this state.
-30-
Email Thomas Elias
at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most
Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It,"
is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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