Newsletter: Essential Politics: California matters!

I’m Christina Bellantoni, this is Essential Politics, and California’s June 7 primary is suddenly a lot more interesting.

We were wondering if it could happen, and the reality has come to be.

“California’s primary delegates became the pot at the end of the rainbow for the campaigns,” Ben Ginsberg, a veteran GOP lawyer who has long been involved in the nomination process, told The Times.

Seema Mehta and Cathleen Decker report on California’s 172 delegates — 14% of the 1,237 required to win the nomination — and how the GOP appears ready to seize a deciding role at the end of the election cycle.

And my favorite nugget is how Republican delegates are awarded in California.

The process creates the potential for a tactically complicated campaign. The vast majority of delegates are awarded, three at a time, to the winner of each of the state’s 53 congressional districts.

A GOP candidate could get three delegates by winning House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s liberal San Francisco district, which contains 30,000 Republicans — the same number he would capture for winning the sprawling northern California district of Elk Grove conservative stalwart Rep. Tom McClintock, home to 175,000 Republicans.

That could mean 53 separate fights, in theory, although in practice much of the warring will be conducted via the state’s dozen or so media markets.

The deadline to register to vote is May 23, and you’re going to be hearing a lot more from us on this in coming weeks. We’ll also be hosting events. Make sure to sign up for the newsletter to be the first to hear about what’s coming.

THE DAILY TRUMP

And what of the Republican front-runner, who warned Wednesday riots could break out this summer if he wins more delegates than any of his rivals but is denied the Republican Party nomination for president?

Mostly people were saying not-so-nice things about him.

In his Thursday column, George Skelton cautions political junkies against comparing Donald Trump to the likes of Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, writing that the brash businessman’s showmanship is in a league all its own.

Alice Walton reports that L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson says Trump is preying on voters’ fears.

CLINTON COMING TO CALI FOR CASH

Get ready for a whole bunch of Hillary Clinton and friends in Los Angeles.

A series of fundraising events kick off today at lunch when campaign Chairman John Podesta hosts a conversation at the home of Dr. Asif Mahmood in Bradbury. Contributors can give up to $2,700 and attend a host reception, according to a copy of an invitation obtained by The Times.

On Sunday, Chelsea Clinton will host a conversation at the Los Angeles home of Elsa and Jarron Collins.

Next Thursday, the candidate herself will appear at the Avalon Hollywood alongside performing artists Ben Harper, Estelle and Russell Simmons, who is emcee. One invitation, from former L.A. councilwoman and city controller Wendy Greuel, shows the lowest-priced ticket is $250. A separate invitation obtained by The Times from a fundraising bundler has the lowest price as $500. And $1,000 gives the ticket-holder “preferred viewing.” Event chairs can raise $50,000 and attend a host reception with Clinton and the performers.

WE HAVE A NOMINEE. NOW WHAT?

President Obama nominated D.C. Circuit Court Judge Merrick Garland, a former colleague of Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., only to have Senate Republicans offer a firm thanks but no thanks.

(Our editorial board calls that a no-win situation.)

Will the GOP relent? A political industrial complex primed for the fight had archived quotes about Garland’s qualifications and previous nomination battles at the ready, with each side suggesting words said over the course of history should — or shouldn’t — take precedence at this particular moment. And the attacks came from all sides, especially as Democrats pushed a #doyourjob social media campaign going after Senate Republicans.

What’s next? Action seems pretty unlikely, and all the timeline data from nominations past — it took Clarence Thomas 99 days to be confirmed and Roberts just 23 — is moot.

Because no matter Garland’s qualifications, in a political environment that the president labeled “even noisier and more volatile than usual” it is difficult to get anything done, let alone something of such consequence.

Still, Obama had to try: “At a time when our politics are so polarized, at a time when norms and customs of political rhetoric and courtesy and comity are so often treated like they’re disposable — this is precisely the time when we should play it straight, and treat the process of appointing a Supreme Court justice with the seriousness and care it deserves. Because our Supreme Court really is unique. It’s supposed to be above politics. It has to be. And it should stay that way.”

WILL TRUMP TURN STEVE KNIGHT’S SEAT BLUE?

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico thinks the rise of Donald Trump can help flip at least one California seat this year: California’s 25th Congressional District, currently held by Rep. Steve Knight (R-Palmdale).

Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Luján said that although the seat “maybe wasn’t on everyone’s original map,” it is “on our battlefield now in a very aggressive way.”

Knight’s political consultant declined to comment but noted that the congressman has not endorsed in the presidential race. In January, Knight told the Santa Clarita Valley Signal that he didn’t think Trump “could win the general [election] in a million years.”

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

— While Congress is deadlocked over a proposal to study gun violence, California lawmakers are making moves to establish a University of California campus as a state-funded national center on the issue.

— Sarah Wire has the latest on the Army policy that keeps female World War II pilots out of Arlington National Cemetery: Only Congress can change it.

— We detail the return of Ron Unz — this time with a Senate bid.

— An association representing Los Angeles County prosecutors is set to become the second criminal justice group in a week to oppose a ballot measure by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom that would further restrict guns and ammunition in California.

— There’s another proposal to slow the revolving door between lawmakers and the people trying to influence legislation.

— Decker finds that the recent Trump campaign rally violence may have boosted Clinton. In Ohio, two-thirds of voters said Clinton was the strongest candidate to defeat Trump, and they went for her by a factor of 4 to 1.

— Clinton may have a trump card, so to speak, in the large and growing coalition of independent and moderate Republican women who don’t like her but are so repulsed by Trump that they are already preparing to vote for the Democrat if that’s what it takes to keep him out of office.

— Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and his wife, Amy Wakeland, have sold their house in the Echo Park area for $1.705 million — above the asking price.

— Obama has Kansas winning his March Madness bracket.

LOGISTICS

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