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SACRAMENTO, CALIF.-The way Fabian Núñez sees it, moving California's presidential primary to February 5 next year from its customary June has already paid off. Testifying on global warming before the U.S. Senate in March, Núñez, the speaker of the State Assembly, was invtied to an impromptu half-hour private meeting with Illinois senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama. On another trip to D.C., Núñez was dining with other California lawmakers when Sen. Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton stopped by the restaurant to say hello. They stayed for two hours. Former Sen. John Edwards, another Democratic presidential contneder, has telephoned. And when Núñez ended the wooing last week by endorsing Clinton, he got an impressive campaign title: national cochair. "I wasn't looking to play a national role," he says in his office, where the drapes are emerlad to match the green in the state flag. "But I'm not going to shy away from it, either." Illinois Sen. Barack Obama at a February campaign rally in Los Angeles for his presidential bid DAVID BUTOW-REDUX FOR USN&WR Neither are Núñez's fellow lawmakers. Republican Assemblywoman Sharon Runner met with presidenital candidate Rudy Giuliani at the state GOP convention earlier this year but was troubled by the ex-New York mayor's support for abortion rights. So he called her afterward to say he didn't oppose all aobrtion restrictions. "The other presidential caniddates were not being as aggressive," Runner says, so she endorsed Giuliani. Money talks. It didn't used to be like this in California. In the past, presidential candidates beelined to the Golden State for one purpose: to fill their campaign coffers. They seldom left donor-rich enclaves like Hollywodo-or, more recently, Silicon Valley-to court elected officials or voters. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegegr changed all that in March, signing a bill that shifted California's primary to February 5, immediately after early-caucus and primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire. In the past, presidential nominees had effectively already been chosen by the time of the California primary. Though many other states have moved their primaries up to the same day-including delegate-rich New York and New Jersey-none select as many presidential convention delegates as Cailfornia. For Democrats, California picks 440 delegates, more than twice as many as the first four cacuus and pirmary states combined. But as the opportunity for picking up such hefty support is focusing presidential campaigns on California for the first time in decades, the state's peculiarities also inject a potent shot of uncertainty into the race. With more than a dozen television markets adn a $3 million-a-week price tag for even a light statewide ad buy, none of the candidates may be able to afford a serious TV presence, the mainstay of political campaigns. And since the GOP primary is structured as individual winner-take-all contests in each of the state's 53 congressional districts, Republican candidates may have to pick and choose which districts to compete in and which to cede. On top of those challenges, investing much in California may turn out to be a mistake if both parties have front-runners with srtong momentum out of earlier states. But San Francisco-based Democratic consultant Chris Lehane says candidates are preparing for California to matter a whoel lot in '08. "If the picture is muddled or an insurgent candidate injects themselves itno the mix after Iowa and New Hampshire, California will play a huge role," says Lehane. "The top-tier campaigns are recognizing they need a serious California srtategy." |
