To Elect a President, California Needs a People's Primary

California can hold a special election for President and keep faith with our priorities by establishing a People's Primary: set up a fund and have people pay for it. If we have the cash by budget time June 1, call a special election. Everyone who wants an early primary can give their money to fund a California primary, and no vulnerable Californians are left behind.

California has held almost as many special elections as general elections this decade. Our first clue that one was coming in 2003 came in February, when a group of grassroots advocates stormed Sacramento to urge the Governor to remember California's most vulnerable. When a group sets up a bake sale outside your office and offers $1 a slice for "upside down priorities cake" you know you're in trouble. Sure enough, soon after, the GOP's $40 million special election was hatched.

A month later, when the Democratic National Committee formally condemned the GOP's threatened recall of Governor Davis, we specifically included a reference as to how much $40 million could do to assist California's poorest and most vulnerable citizens. Well we all know what happened next: a $40 million election; a new Governor.

Then came 2005, when the new Governor decided that instead of working with the legislature or waiting until the June 2006 primary he would call another costly special election to take on what he termed the "special interests" - nurses, teachers, firefighters and cops. This time the tab was $80 million. The public soundly rejected these ill-conceived initiatives, and resented the costly expenditure of tax dollars.

Yet here he goes again. Another special election - this time, the California Presidential primary proposed for February 2008 (instead of waiting for June). The tab: $90 million. Now THIS special election is tempting: as a lifelong Democrat and 10-year elected Democratic National Committeewoman, I love the idea of an early primary for my state. California has been the ATM of American politics for far too long. Every time we write a check to a Presidential candidate to go buy airtime in another state without demanding a public "people's event" here at home, we are consigning ourselves to electoral irrelevance. How great it would be to have California make the difference in a Presidential election. But what about our priorities? Those poor and vulnerable Californians still need us; universal health care, new jobs and environmental investments are not going to fund themselves. But perhaps an election can.

California can hold a special election for President and keep faith with our priorities by establishing a People's Primary: set up a fund and have people pay for it. If we have the cash by budget time June 1, call a special election. Everyone who wants an early primary - that most certainly includes all who pay for the campaigning that occurs in other states with California-raised cash - can chip in. If we have the cash by budget time June 1, 2007, call a special election. Everyone wins: those who want an early push can give their money to fund a California primary, and no vulnerable Californians are left behind.

I am confident that the combined wisdom and creativity of our political leaders can find a way to make this happen - and I am happy to do my part. I'm firing up my kitchen right now for my first batch of people's-first-priorities cake. Slice of chocolate, anyone?