California primary will actually mean something

The Golden State's voters may finally have a say in who the presidential nominees are in the Democratic and Republican parties. With the nominations up in the air, the race in both parties could come down to the Feb. 5 primary in California and the primaries in 21 other states that will also be held that Tuesday.

The day is being called "Super Tuesday" or "Tsunami Tuesday." Whatever you want to call Feb. 5, the primaries that day will have a huge say in nominating the Democratic and Republican standard-bearers.

The irony is that while giving more clout to California in the presidential contests was the stated reason for moving the primary to Feb. 5, everyone knows that the real reason was a ploy to extend the legislative careers of 42 to lawmakers in the Assembly and state Senate. By also putting Proposition 93 on the same ballot, the careers of termed-out legislators could be extended if voters approve the measure. They then can run in the June primary for their seats. It's all legal because they separated the presidential primary from the primary for all the other races in California.

So for once, the self-serving Legislature gave voters something -- a say in the presidential nominating contests. Now the voters should say thank you, and then vote down Proposition 93. I give my reasons in this column on the issue.

But let's get back to the presidential contests. The next key race for Republicans is in Florida on Jan. 29. All the leading GOP candidates are going all-out in Florida, making it an important test of strength. Even Rudy Giuliani is fighting for delegates in Florida. Right now Sen. John McCain is considered the Republican front-runner.

On the Democratic side, Sen. Hillary Clinton has improved her position by defeating Sen. Barack Obama in the caucuses in Nevada on Saturday. The next key contest is South Carolina, which is holding its Democratic primary on Saturday.

Former Sen. John Edwards, the Democratic nominee for vice president four years ago, is desperately trying to bust into the Clinton/Obama group, but his time is running out. Edwards is pitching himself as the only Democrat who can beat McCain, according to this Associated Press story.

Edwards acknowledged that he got his "butt kicked" in Nevada, managing only 4% support among caucus attenders. Clinton got 51% and Obama had 45%.

Expect the candidates to begin paying quite a bit of attention to California. I hope those of you who are voting by mail haven't marked your ballots yet. It's going to get very interesting.