OK, so California is not exactly where the excitement is at in the presidential race. But I think what will be the most important issue to come out of Cali will be prop 62. One of the hurdles that California Republicans have had to clear for a long time now is that many small l libertarians, moderate conservatives and secular GOP types (the Arnolds of our state) tend to register as independents. This leaves the Republican primary to a very small group of traditional conservatives who inevitably nominate a candidate that has no chance of winning in a general election.

This is why Arnold could only have run as a Republican during the recall - because it bypassed the primaries where he never could have been nominated by the party. Because of this contrarian, independent tick of the California electorate, the far left wing of the Democratic party has had it’s power exaggerated. Prop 62 would solve this problem by allowing candidates to bypass the Republican primary trial by fire, and thereby allowing moderates (or more typically for California - hawkish social liberals who are fiscal conservatives) to run against the Democrats.

This would likely reverberate on the national level because it would give Republicans some kind of footing in California and it would force the California Democrats to move closer to the center. No results are in yet, but I’m going to be watching this one closely. If the Arnold, Rudy, McCain’s of the elephants can find a power base in California, the implications to the future of American politics are hard to overestimate.

All right. I’m off to one of these places to get drunk and watch (at least if the numbers coming out of Ohio and Florida are correct) Bush win. I’ll bring my camera and post later tonight.

Stay Free.