What an Early California Primary Means to the Nation

By Edward Espinoza
Member, Democratic National Committee

One year out from the first presidential primary and two years after California initially moved its state primary from March to June, the Golden State is looking to make a power play on the national scene and move its presidential primary to February 5, 2008. It is easy to see why any state would choose to have a strong say in the Presidential nominating process, what may not be as easy to recognize is the larger implications such a move has on the entire country.

In weighing this early move, California is seeking to flex its muscle in picking the next President and eliminate the strangle-hold that states like Iowa and New Hampshire have for years held on the nominating process. And just last year, the Democratic National Committee did in fact reform this process by adding two states to the early calendar – Nevada and South Carolina – which in turn put candidates before voters with greater regional and ethnic diversity, as well as compel candidates to address issues important to all parts of the country.

It is not a perfect fix, but it is progress. Nevada and South Carolina, like Iowa and New Hampshire, offer small and relatively affordable media markets, which allow candidates with big ideas but small bank accounts to viably communicate their message and test their standing with voters.

The expense required to run in a state like California early on in the cycle is considerable, and could limit the field of viable candidates. At this point, with eight candidates on the Democratic side in the race, there seems to be only one who would be able to finance a campaign in the state.

A better overall solution may have been the rotating regional primary plan offered by the National Association of Secretary of States. Under this plan, all states in a particular region would vote on the same day, followed by another region a few weeks later, and so on. This formula was not politically (or financially) viable for all states, so the plan to have at least one early state in each region was reached. It has its merits.

Furthermore, when a state the size of California votes early in the process, it prompts other states to do the same for fear of being “left out” of the process. This is why Florida and Illinois are pursuing efforts to move their primaries to the same day as California’s proposal. What this essentially works towards is an informal national primary after the initial round of early single-state regional primaries that will take place in January of 2008.

Comments

Posted by: Alex at February 12, 2007 04:48 PM

Posted by: debbie at May 9, 2008 04:00 PM

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