NH Union Leader: CA's move spells end of "retail politics"?

California schemin': The end of retail politics

CALIFORNIA WANTS a piece of the Presidential primary action, and it is willing to harm the country to get it.

On Tuesday California's legislature approved a bill to move that state's Presidential primary to Feb. 5, placing it just two weeks behind the current date set for New Hampshire's primary (though New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner will have the final say on that).

California is the most populous state. How could moving its primary from June to February hurt the country? It's all about how candidates reach voters.
New Hampshire has about 860,000 registered voters. California has about 16 million. How will Presidential candidates reach those 16 million voters? With television and radio ads.

In New Hampshire, the Presidential candidates will meet voters face to face. They will endure tough questions; they will have to listen to voters' concerns in small, intimate settings. Outsider candidates like Bill Richardson, Mitt Romney and Duncan Hunter stand a shot at winning the primary even though they cannot raise as much money as their better-known opponents.

In California, the only candidates who have any hope of winning are the household names who can raise tens of millions of dollars to run statewide radio and television ads for months. Advantage: Clinton, Giuliani, McCain.

The United States will suffer if its Presidential nominees are chosen based on 30-second broadcast ads instead of direct interaction with actual voters. But California doesn't care. It wants a piece of the action. And it's going to get it. Retail politics? Hasta la vista, baby.