California takes center stage in White House race

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — For years little more than a lucrative afterthought in the race for the White House, California has emerged as a key battleground in the 2008 presidential campaign.

The decision to give California an earlier slot in the primary calendar has led to frenzied campaigning by Republican and Democratic candidates, hungry to snap up the hundreds of delegates on offer in the most populous US state.

"California is the biggest prize there is in this country and if you can get a big share of it, it puts you that much closer to the nomination," said Kareem Crayton, a political scientist at the University of Southern California (USC).

USC politics professor Sherry Bebitch-Jeffe said California's earlier position in the primary season had given the...