Democratic Primaries

RandySF

(58,911 posts) Thu Jan 23, 2020, 01:01 AM Jan 2020

California's primary ballots arrive by mail the day Iowa caucuses. That's a campaign dilemma

The 494 delegates California will send to the Democratic National Convention in July have earned the state's primary election the nickname "the big enchilada" among presidential candidates. But, this year, the enchilada is spicier.

A majority of voters in the Golden State vote by mail and will receive ballots on Feb. 3, the same day as the Iowa caucus. That's months earlier than in recent years. The mail ballots' early delivery date presents Democratic presidential candidates with a dilemma: Should they invest heavily in the first four states to vote (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina) with the hope of amassing momentum leading into Super Tuesday on March 3, when California and 13 other states vote?

Or should they campaign more broadly from the start, and focus on California from the get-go?

California is the most populous state, and it awards more than double the total delegates that come from the first four states to vote.

Since 1988, future Democratic nominees have all received a majority of the vote in California, with the exception of then-Sen. Barack Obama, who lost to then-Sen. Hillary Clinton in 2008 by 18 percentage points. California has successfully predicted the primary winner in each of the Republican contests since 1988.

With six weeks to go, the battle for California Democrats' votes is heating up.

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/01/20/california-democratic-primary-election-ballots-arrive-mail-feb-3/4482789002/