Learn from the political pros

A panel of experts discuss California's role in the presidential nominating process

California flexes some political muscle

By Scott Horsley, San Diego Pro

Business reporter, National Public Radio

California hopes to play a bigger role in this year’s presidential nominating process, with its new, earlier primary, February 5th.  Is it working?  Find out February 12th when SPJ hosts a discussion with a panel of political pros.

Iowa and New Hampshire still grabbed much of the spotlight in the early stages of the campaign.  But there are signs that California voters are not as invisible as they once were.  “One of the things we’ve noticed is that a lot of campaigns are opening up offices in California.  Not just one, but a number,” says Kim Alexander, president of the non-partisan California Voter Foundation.

California has always been a popular spot for presidential candidates to raise money.  But this year, they’re also hoping to score votes.  Google headquarters in northern California has become a regular stop on the campaign trail, just like the Iowa State Fair.  And Rudy Guiliani is hoping moderate Republicans in California will provide a counterweight to social conservatives elsewhere around the country. 

Thanks to the growing popularity of mail-in ballots, millions of Californians will cast votes well before the February 5th primary.  Mail-in ballots can be sent out as early as January 7th, one day before New Hampshire voters go to the polls.

Will that accelerated schedule finally give the nation’s most populous state a proportionate voice in who should be the next President?  Or will California voters simply follow the bandwagon and amplify the choices made by voters in the traditional early-decision states of Iowa and New Hampshire?  “This is all very new and very untried,” says Tony Quinn, political analyst and co-editor of the California Target Book.

NPR political correspondent Ina Jaffe, UCSD professor Gary Jacobson, and Mesa College professor Carl Luna will join other journalists, pollsters, and academics for a speedy debrief of the California presidential primary, one week after the local votes are tallied.  The February 12 forum will be held at the San Diego Union-Tribune building, at 350 Camino de la Reina in Mission Valley.  The reception begins at 6:30 p.m. and the program starts at 7.