All Politics Is Local

It was the late Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, longtime respresentative from Massachusetts and speaker of the House, who said, "All politics is local."

In a neat, easy-to-remember, four-word sentence, O'Neill summed up the nature of politics. We're provincial creatures, and we translate what is happening locally (in our province) into our vote selections on the seemingly higher state and national levels.

In truth, the level doesn't get any higher than your own backyard or the route you take to work each day.

Cathleen Decker of the Los Angeles Times understands this in her article headlined "A California primary that matters."

For those of us who don't live in California, it may seem odd that a primary held in a state with a population of more than 36 million and holder of one-fifth of the electoral votes needed to win the general election wouldn't matter. But, in truth, it has been a long time since there was a primary in California that had a significant impact on the outcome of national nominating contests.

In the last 50 years, when it hasn't had a native son in the race (Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan in five general elections, Reagan and Jerry Brown in other contests for the nominations), California's spot on the calendar (typically in early June) has rendered it meaningless because the nominees have already secured their nominations in the earlier primaries and caucuses.

Among Republicans, the last California primary that mattered was between its former governor, Ronald Reagan, and then-President Gerald Ford, who were locked in a battle for the 1976 nomination that went down to the wire.

The last truly memorable contest for California's Democratic delegates was in 1968, when Bobby Kennedy won the primary against Gene McCarthy but lost his life to an assassin's bullets.

This time, Californians will vote in February on "Tsunami Tuesday," Feb. 5. Neither nomination will be wrapped up by that time, so California will play an important role in deciding the nominees in both parties.

The primary also will include ballot initiatives that will influence the political landscape in California. The initiatives could have been put on the ballot for the June primary that will nominate candidates for statewide office, but proponents want to take advantage of the interest that they expect will be generated by the races for the presidential nominations.

So, while this primary will have a distinctly national flavor, it is proof that in California, all politics truly is local.