Delegate-Rich California Has to Share the Attention

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Delegate-Rich California Has to Share the Attention

It may be the biggest prize of the primary election season, but California will receive only passing attention over the next eight days from the two men best positioned to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

The state's long yearning to have a meaningful voice in picking a nominee finally has come to fruition. But the political calendar is so jammed with other contests that Sens. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina will spend less than three days here before the March 2 primary.

With more delegates than any other state, 370, California has undoubted allure. But it won't hold the candidates' undivided attention because nine other states also will hold contests on "Super Tuesday," including Ohio and New York. And three other states vote before that.

Even without all the distractions, the Golden State can prove daunting to candidates — too large to buttonhole many voters in person and with TV markets so expensive it can blow a campaign treasury to smithereens. Most analysts expect Kerry and Edwards to be absent from the airwaves or to air only a fraction of ads that bombarded voters in earlier primary states.

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Delegate-Rich California Has to Share the Attention

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