The primary in California could be pivotal for the current US presidential campaign, as there are no clear front-runners so far in both parties and candidates pay more attention to the state, political analysts said Thursday.
California's primary will be held on Feb. 5, dubbed by some as "Super Duper Tuesday" because nearly two dozen states will hold primaries or caucuses on the same day, more on a single day than in any previous national campaign.
With the recent close results in New Hampshire and Iowa leaving both races still up for grabs, candidates are increasingly focusing on the upcoming events, with California remaining the biggest prize.
California has been traditionally seen as a nonfactor in the presidential primaries because its primary was in June, long after the party nominees had been virtually decided.
But even though several more states will have their own primaries before Feb. 5, the rapid growth of voting by mail in California means voters here have already begun making their decisions before those other contests are even decided, according to the Los Angeles newspaper Daily News.
A recent poll in California found that the race tightening on the Democratic side, as New York Senator Hillary Clinton's former lead of 25 percentage points over Senator Barack Obama now stands at a 36-22 margin.
However, Clinton's surprising New Hampshire victory has re-established her as the Democratic candidate to beat in California, where she has led in polls and fundraising, said Jaime Regalado, apolitical expert at California State University, Los Angeles.
He said California is "one of the states deeply in Hillary's pockets."
But Mark DiCamillo, director of the state's independent public opinion survey service Field Poll, cautions that the Democratic race in California might also be too close to call.
"Without any new California data, the best I can say is (the race) is probably similar to national samples," said DiCamillo.
On the Republican side, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was leading in California with 25 percent, but former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee had made rapid gains to maintain second place with 17 percent.
And some said that Arizona Senator John McCain's New Hampshire win makes him a big beneficiary in California, where his previous poor showing in polls had strapped his campaign financially and kept him from setting up a much-needed state operation.
Meanwhile, candidates from both parties have been scrambling to beef up their grass-roots support in California, where past candidates often visited early to raise funds from Hollywood and Silicon Valley, but rarely paid attention to late in the campaign.
(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2008)
