Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) said none of that mattered.
"We'll get a brand new Super Tuesday," he said. "It will be California and others. I don't much care about the others. I care about California. We're the biggest dog in the kennel, and when we say something and start barking, people are going to pay attention."
A primary election schedule front-loaded with big states, where buying advertising is expensive, could give an advantage to well-known candidates with deep pockets, analysts say. And the extended campaign season could burn out voters.
"The cost of campaigning actually goes way up because of the much longer period of time people are trying to fight this through," said Larry Gerston, a political scientist at San Jose State.
California has been down this road before, without much luck.
In 1994, state legislators, using the same "we could play a big role" reasoning, moved the presidential primary to March 26. But many other states jumped ahead, leaving California 32nd in the 1996 campaign schedule -- only slightly better positioned than had the primary remained in June.
For 2000, California lawmakers moved the primary to the first Tuesday in March. It stayed there through 2004, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill returning it to June.
Lawmakers called the March primary a failure. By the time California voted in March 2004, 20 other states had already held elections, and Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry was the presumed Democratic nominee.
"An early primary didn't make us any more relevant," Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) said in August 2004. "The only result was a lower turnout."
Today, Nunez is a strong supporter of moving the primary, saying it will make California more relevant in national politics.
"Some national issues, including immigration and coastal oil drilling, are issues that disproportionally impact states like California," Nunez said Tuesday in a speech at the Sacramento Press Club. "I think prospective nominees should be vetted on their views on these issues sooner rather than later."
Nunez has another reason: He hopes to use an early primary ballot to ask voters to relax term limits.
If voters agreed, he would be able to run for his Assembly seat again. The early presidential primary bill would not affect primary elections for state offices, including those for the Legislature, held in June.
