Voters registered as Decline to State (more than 19% of the California electorate) could participate in the Democratic or American Independent Party primary.  According to the Secretary of State's website: "Political parties have until 135 days prior to an election to provide a written notice to the Secretary of State indicating the adoption of a rule allowing decline to state voters to vote the ballot of that individual party.  The deadline for the February 5, 2008 Presidential Primary Election was September 23, 2007."  Only the Democrats and AIP submitted letters.  (Note that in Los Angeles County the ballot layout for decline-to-state voters caused some problems [the "double bubble"]).

Turnout: Nine million Californians voted in the primary.  "57.71% of registered voters cast ballots in the February election, marking the highest primary turnout on a percentage basis since 1980."  41.7% of ballots were cast by mail.  -Calif. Secretary of State

Democrats 441 Delegates (370 Pledged, 71 Unpledged) and 62 Alternates. 1, 2, 3-[PDF] 10.89% of the 4,049 Delegate Votes.  10.42% of the 4,234 Delegate Votes. Clinton  |  Obama former: Dodd  |  Edwards  |  Kucinich  |  Richardson Debates: -Jan. 31, 2008 - CNN/Los Angeles Times Democratic debate in Hollywood, CA. > Official Results  Joe Biden 18,261 0.36% Dennis Kucinich 24,126 0.48% Barack Obama 2,186,662 43.16% Bill Richardson 19,939 0.39% +Hillary Clinton 2,608,184 51.47% Chris Dodd 8,005 0.16% John Edwards 193,617 3.82% Mike Gravel 8,184 0.16% w/ins (8) 15 - Total 5,066,993

Republicans 173 Delegates: 3 RNC; 11 at-large; 159 by CD (3 x 53) and 170 alternates. 7.27% of the 2,380 Delegates. Allocation: At-large statewide "winner-take-all."  CD winner-take-all by district. Huckabee  |  McCain  |  Paul  |  Romney former: Giuliani  |  Hunter  |  F.Thompson Debates: -May 3, 2007 - Reagan Presidential Library Foundation/MSNBC/THE POLITICO debate in Simi Valley, CA. -Jan. 30, 2008 - Reagan Presidential Library Foundation/CNN/Los Angeles Times/POLITICO debate in Simi Valley, CA. > Official Results  Mike Huckabee 340,669 11.62% Duncan Hunter 14,021 0.48% Alan Keyes 11,742 0.40% Sam Brownback 2,486 0.08% John Cox 3,219 0.11% Rudy Giuliani 128,681 4.39% +John McCain 1,238,988 42.25% Ron Paul 125,365 4.27% Mitt Romney 1,013,471 34.56% Tom Tancredo 3,884 0.13% Fred Thompson 50,275 1.71% w/ins (9) 10 - Total 2,932,811

American Independent
Mad Max Riekse 13,597 (30.5%), Diane Beall Templin 14,811 (33.3%), Don J. Grundmann 16,068 (36.2%).
Greens
Ralph Nader 20,373 (60.7%), Cynthia McKinney 8,895 (265%), Elaine Brown 1,502 (4.5%), Kat Swift 1,028 (3.1%), Kent Mesplay 690 (2.0%), Jesse Johnson 590 (1.7%), Jared Ball 528 (1.5%).
Libertarian
top 5 candidates: Christine Smith 4,073 (25.0%), Steve Kubby 2,787 (17.1%), Wayne A. Root 2,284 (14.1%), Bob Jackson 1,441 (8.9%), Barry Hess 864 (5.3%).
Peace & Freedom
top 3 candidates: Ralph Nader 2,515 (40.9%), Cynthia McKinney 1,346 (21.4%), Gloria E. La Riva 1316 (21.0%).

More Notes on the Feb. 5, 2008 Presidential Primary Election

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Voting Eligible Population: 21,132,533. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 58.8%. Registration: Dem. 7,120,425 (43.00%)    Rep. 5,745,518 (34.70%)   AIP 326,763 (1.97%)   Grn. 160,579 (0.97%)   Lib. 89,617 (0.54%)   NL 28,779 (0.17%)   P&F 68,100 (0.41%)  Misc. 91,581 (0.55%)   Decline 2,925,901 (17.67%) ...Total 16,557,273

Official Results 24,035 of 24,035 precincts +Kerry/Edwards (Dem.) 6,737,355 (54.41) Bush/Cheney (Rep.)  5,501,496 (44.43) Peroutka/Baldwin (AIP) 26,580 (0.21) Cobb/LaMarche (Grn.) 40,598 (0.33) Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.) 50,101 (0.40) Peltier/Jordan (P&F) 27,548 (0.22) Total........12,383,678

2004 Overview Although Republicans had made some headway by electing Gov. Schwarzenegger and cutting the Democrats' registration edge, California remained a "safe Kerry" state.  Kerry gained a plurality of 1,235,859 votes (9.98 percentage points); he won in 22 counties to Bush's 36. General Election Details Kerry/Democrats  |  Bush-Cheney '04

[Primary Election: March 2, 2004]

General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000

Voting Eligible Population: 19,685,258. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 55.7%. 2,739,155 of the 11,142,843 total votes cast were by absentee ballot -- 24.58%. Registration: Dem. 7,134,601 (45.4%)   Rep. 5,485,492 (34.9%)   AIP 321,838 (2.1%)   Grn. 138,734 (0.9%)   Lib. 94,900 (0.6%)   Ref. 79,152 (0.5%)   NL 58,275 (0.4%)   Misc. 137,999 (0.9%)   Decline 2,256,316 (14.4%)  ...Total 15,707,307

Official Results +Gore/Lieberman (Dem.) 5,861,203 (53.45) Bush/Cheney (Rep.) 4,567,429 (41.65) Phillips/Frazier (AIP) 17,042 (0.16) Nader/LaDuke (Grn.) 418,707 (3.82) Browne/Olivier (Lib.) 45,520 (0.42) Hagelin/Goldhaber (NLP) 10,934 (0.09) Buchanan/Foster (Ref.) 44,987 (0.41) W.M.Kenyon, Sr. (Ind.w/i) 6 - David McReynolds (Ind.w/i) 28 - Total........10,965,856 Total Votes Not Cast in Presidential Race 177,010 (1.6%)

2000 Overview Brash talk and a significant investment of resources by the Bush campaign and the Republican party failed to pry California's 54 electors out of the Democratic column.  As in other recent statewide elections, the Democrats' registration edge of about 10% held solid; Vice President Gore won with a plurality of 1,293,774 votes (11.80 percentage points).  Los Angeles County weighed in heavily, producing a plurality of more than 800,000 votes for Gore.  Overall, Gore won in 20 counties to Bush's 38.  Early in the campaign it appeared Ralph Nader might be a factor.  From Aug. 1 to Election Day he spent 13 days campaigning in Calif., but he ended up not having much impact on Gore's showing.  Pat Buchanan failed to make a mark despite significant TV buys.  General Election Activity

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Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.