Reply #5: The bulletins from New Hampshire are fun--voters actually meet candidates personally.BUT...

[Hekate]

...sorry, New Hampshire, but California is huge and our voice needs to be actually heard in the primaries.

Doug, a friend of my sister's, posted wonderful bulletins from NH in the last couple of national elections. He had all kinds of first hand impressions of all the candidates -- Lieberman (your kindly uncle) was one I remember. Doug is very literate and in-depth on the issues, too. I definitely envied him this opportunity, because California is so big that my chances of seeing Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, or Wesley Clark in a town hall meeting in my local library are slim to none.

I saw both Bill and Hillary Clinton at City College when they came here to speak during his presidency, and in the crowd surge that lifted me off my feet I actually got to shake his hand. Now that was a thrill, and I admit I finally understood his charisma, but it is nowhere near having coffee with the man.

Likewise I shook Howard Dean's hand -- but only because I was a volunteer at a fundraiser and I pushed my way forward so I could.

"Fundraising" really is how candidates tend to see California. Our wealthy are a cash cow -- but the rest of us should be courted too. I know it's hard to get to even a portion of the state, but with an early enough primary, they could sure try.

Hekate