New Life for State Primary

It’s possible that the California presidential primary March 2 actually might mean something. The strong showing of North Carolina Sen. John Edwards in Tuesday’s Wisconsin balloting does not lift him to a par with Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, who now has won 15 of 17 primaries and caucuses. But at least Edwards, unlike former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, is still in the running. His Wisconsin finish stopped Kerry from clinching the Democratic nomination for at least the next dozen days.

So far, the candidates have campaigned mainly in smaller states, mostly in the East, South and Midwest. Now they cannot ignore California, although it shares the March 2 primary with nine other states, including New York, Ohio and Massachusetts. California alone can’t determine the outcome, but its bounty of 370 delegate votes is a major prize -- about one-third of the 1,151 delegates up for grabs in all 10 states March 2.

In the coming days, the Democratic candidates need to talk and debate in detail about issues of special interest to California, including immigration and the environment.

The candidates need to be talking about illegal immigration and its economic and social effects in California and other border states. They should be prepared to speak specifically about what they would do as president to reduce the influx of undocumented immigrants, whether they would support legalizing their presence in this country, how to enforce sanctions against employers who hire illegal workers, and to what degree the federal government should compensate the states for providing health and other services to immigrants.

Californians also want specifics on the environment, including protection against any attempt to renew offshore drilling for oil.

California twice moved up the date of its presidential primary from the traditional June slot in an attempt to have a real role in the selection of presidential nominees for the first time since 1972. But each time California moved its date earlier in the primary schedule, other states, in a sort of primary arms race, just made theirs even earlier. Until this week, it seemed that even March 2 would be too late.

California is getting a taste of the power that it and other populous states deserve. Iowa and New Hampshire have their great charms, but California’s big and small cities, its farms and forests more fully represent the variousness and breadth of America.