| CALIFORNIA | 55 Electoral Votes
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Obama | Romney ||
Visits
Although the presidential outcome was all but certain, the candidates popped into the Golden State ATM every so often to raise funds. From April 10 to Nov. 6, 2012, Barack and Michelle Obama and Joe Biden did at least 28 fundraisers in California, and Mitt and Ann Romney and Paul Ryan did at least 20 fundraisers (visits). (Also note, Mitt Romney has a home in La Jolla and made occasional stops there).
In addition to being a source of money, California had an impact on the national campaign through activists of varying political stripes who made calls to and volunteered in battleground states, notably neighboring Nevada. The Obama campaign built an organization which included about 43 staff and 2,700 volunteer leaders; the campaign's "Border State" program tallied "over 13.6 million phone calls from California volunteers to key voters in battleground states."
Third party candidates did not ignore California. The Libertarian vice presidential nominee, Judge Jim Gray (ret.), is a Californian, having served as presiding judge of the Superior Court of Orange County, and he did a significant number of events. Gary Johnson also visited the state. The Green Party nominee Jill Stein did a campus tour in late September. Additionally, the Californian-based socialist Peace and Freedom Party nominated Roseanne Barr, who had unsuccessfully sought the Green Party nomination, and Cindy Sheehan at their state convention in Los Angeles on August 4, 2012.
After a second straight election in which their nominee trailed at least three million votes behind Obama, Republicans clearly have work to do in California. One part of that equation is the Hispanic vote. According to the Census Bureau's estimate as of July 1, 2011 38.10% of the state's population is of Hispanic origin (14,359,500 of 37,691,912) (+). The NALEO Educational Fund projected that Latinos would account for 26.3% of the vote in 2012 (+).
Newspaper Endorsements (Sample)
Although the presidential outcome was all but certain, the candidates popped into the Golden State ATM every so often to raise funds. From April 10 to Nov. 6, 2012, Barack and Michelle Obama and Joe Biden did at least 28 fundraisers in California, and Mitt and Ann Romney and Paul Ryan did at least 20 fundraisers (visits). (Also note, Mitt Romney has a home in La Jolla and made occasional stops there).
In addition to being a source of money, California had an impact on the national campaign through activists of varying political stripes who made calls to and volunteered in battleground states, notably neighboring Nevada. The Obama campaign built an organization which included about 43 staff and 2,700 volunteer leaders; the campaign's "Border State" program tallied "over 13.6 million phone calls from California volunteers to key voters in battleground states."
Third party candidates did not ignore California. The Libertarian vice presidential nominee, Judge Jim Gray (ret.), is a Californian, having served as presiding judge of the Superior Court of Orange County, and he did a significant number of events. Gary Johnson also visited the state. The Green Party nominee Jill Stein did a campus tour in late September. Additionally, the Californian-based socialist Peace and Freedom Party nominated Roseanne Barr, who had unsuccessfully sought the Green Party nomination, and Cindy Sheehan at their state convention in Los Angeles on August 4, 2012.
After a second straight election in which their nominee trailed at least three million votes behind Obama, Republicans clearly have work to do in California. One part of that equation is the Hispanic vote. According to the Census Bureau's estimate as of July 1, 2011 38.10% of the state's population is of Hispanic origin (14,359,500 of 37,691,912) (+). The NALEO Educational Fund projected that Latinos would account for 26.3% of the vote in 2012 (+).
Newspaper Endorsements (Sample)
| OBAMA |
ROMNEY |
| Contra
Costa
Times
(Oct.
26, 2012) + Fresno Bee (Oct. 31, 2012) + Los Angeles Times (Oct. 21, 2012) 616,575 (4) + Marin Independent Journal (Oct. 21, 2012) + Oakland Tribune (Oct. 26, 2012) + La Opinión (Oct. 23, 2012) + The Record [Stockton] (Oct. 28, 2012) + The Sacramento Bee (Oct. 14, 2012) 196,667 (32) + San Francisco Chronicle (Oct. 26, 2012) 229,176 (26) + San Francisco Examiner (Oct. 8, 2012) + San Jose Mercury News (Oct. 27, 2012) 575,786 (6) + Santa Cruz Sentinel (Oct. 23, 2012) + Ventura County Star (Oct. 28, 2012) + |
Chico Enterprise-Record (Oct.
30, 2012) + Daily News [Los Angeles] (Oct. 27, 2012) 94,016 (83) + The Desert Sun [Palm Springs] (Nov. 4, 2012) North County Times [Escondido/Oceanside] (Sept. 29, 2012) + Press-Telegram [Long Beach] (Oct. 26, 2012) 82,556 (92)+ The Reporter [Vacaville] (Oct. 28, 2012) + San Diego Union-Tribune (Oct. 7, 2012 - list) 230,742 (25)+ |
| Copyright © 2012 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action. |
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