Boy did the Governor love it. So did all the lawmakers. California was moving up its Presidential primary to FEBRUARY! Wow.. that will put us in the thick of the primary campaign season. Yessiree.. those politicians will have to pay attention to us now! You bet.
Oh.. and about all those other races we also vote on such as the party nominations for Congress and the state legislature? We will keep that dusty ol’ June primary just for them.
Well.. well. Just our luck. As it turns out the February primary helped lock up the nomination for John McCain on the Republican side but that was only because it was a largely winner-take-all primary. But for the Democrats who love to divide delegates by the percentage of the vote well the California primary decided nothing. Nada. Zilch. It was a big win for Hillary Clinton but not in the delegate count. Sen. Obama and all the other Democrats knew they could ignore the state and still get enough delegates to keep their campaign alive.
So instead of having our Presidential primary on the same ballot as everybody else, which has been the case since 1940, we now have a June primary that voters will largely ignore. The marquee value of the Presidential race now gone it will be a miracle if a third of the registered voters show up to the polls. There are just two statewide ballot measures joining a host of local elections. And one of those ballot measures.. Prop 98? That was targeted by property rights advocates for this primary because they knew it would be a low turnout which gives their measure a better chance of passage.
And if Prop 98 does pass (along with its provision to gradually eliminate rent control) the opponants can blame Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California legislature. Why? Because moving the Presidential primary to February wasn’t about getting the state involved in the race for the White House at all. It was because the legislature would also have on the ballot in February a measure that would extend term limits for most of the members of the legislature. They kept the June primary where it was to give politicians the chance to “re-file” for their office in case the measure allowing them to stay another few terms passed in February.
Oh.. and by adding a third election to the ‘08 calander year it also cost taxpayers about 80 million dollars. Democrats hated spending that kind of money on Arnold’s special election in ‘05.. but they loved doing it this year.
So go vote. Its election day. Again.
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