California Democrats Still Waiting For The Full Iowa Treatment From Presidential Candidates

Speaker 1: 00:00 California Democrats held their by annual convention over the weekend. 5,000 delegates gathered at the long beach convention center, front runner, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren were no shows. But most of the other candidates made appearances for more on all of it. We're joined by capital public radio has been Adler been welcome. Good to be with you. We're so glad to have you. Hey, I understand this convention wasn't quite as rowdy as the spring convention held in San Francisco. Can you set the scene for us? Sure. So back in the spring, you had all of this anticipation. You had a, you know, for the first time all of these presidential candidates coming to California at the same time. Joe Biden didn't show back in the spring, but Elizabeth Warren did. And of course all, all the other big names, Bernie Sanders, Pete, Buddha, judge, and Kamala Harris, who at the time was in a much stronger position in the race than, than she appears to be right now. Speaker 1: 00:51 So you had the buzz, you had every, you know, every campaign did the, did the thing where they tried to get as many volunteers as they could to show their strength. Uh, you know, you'd have different groups competing, trying to shout each other out or chance each other down. Uh, and you just didn't have that this time in addition to Biden who once again stayed away because his campaign I think, believes that the, the, the crowd of, of democratic activists is just not his thing. Uh, you know, it's, it's not necessarily, you know, he'd, he'd run the risk of getting a lot of booze and it wouldn't really be the reception, you know, there, there wouldn't be much upside to him going, uh, he held a campaign event Thursday in Los Angeles and then, uh, left the state as everyone else came in. And Elizabeth Warren didn't come either. Speaker 1: 01:35 Uh, she was campaigning in, in Iowa. Uh, so, you know, you didn't have a couple of the front runners there. You did have Bernie Sanders and Buddha judge and Harris and, and others. Uh, but it just, it was different. The, there was less excitement in the air, there was less tension, there was less, you know, the, that just that it's hard to describe. There's just a sense when you go to enough of these that, that I've learned over the years that there's an energy here. Uh, sometimes and other times there isn't. And, and I did personally, others may disagree, but personally I did not sense that energy. Interesting. And I want to talk about that more a wondering what was the reaction from delegates to the absence of Biden and Warren? Well, certainly some, some disappointment more so I think people were more disappointed in Warren even though she came last time. Speaker 1: 02:23 And, and she has opened several offices in California and she's been actively trying to campaign here, not I, I think the two candidates who have held the most public events in California besides maybe Kamala Harris, because she's also, you know, the state, some state Senator would be Pete, Buddha, judge and, and Bernie Sanders. They've, they've both held a lot of different events throughout different parts of the, of the state. But, but other than that, you get candidates from time to time in the Bay area in Los Angeles. And, and you know, you tell me how often have you guys had a, uh, prominent presidential candidate in San Diego this year? So, uh, you know, I, it, it just folks were disappointed, probably more so with Warren because was her crowd, she got a what, probably the strongest reception of any candidate at the spring convention and then she, she skipped this one. Speaker 1: 03:06 So, uh, some disappointment on that as you might expect. Did it delegates make a presidential endorsement? No, there was not even an attempt to do so, uh, because the, the way it works, the president, the party's presidential endorsement comes through the delegates who are nominated in the primary, at the national convention next summer. So, uh, unlike the, the local races and even racist for governor and, and us Senate, uh, when, when they are, you know, there are no governor and U S Senate races in 2020. But you know, this time, a couple of years ago, there were endorsement battles. Uh, you know, this is different here because the, the, there was no vote for a presidential primary candidate, which is probably yet another reason that the vibe was, the energy was reduced, that that campaigns really didn't seem to be investing as much energy in trying to get their supporters out to make a point. Speaker 1: 03:52 What was really at stake there. There, there really wasn't much of anything. It was the second time this year that presidential candidates would be addressing many of the same people they addressed earlier in the year. Did the delegates, you talk to think moving the primary to super Tuesday is getting more attention from presidential candidates? So generally they're, they, they wish there would be more attention and we should say that that back in 2008, just for that election, California did vote on super Tuesday. Uh, but, uh, then, you know, it got moved back and back then, uh, actually the, the primaries were split. The state actually had two primaries last year, a presidential primary, uh, on super Tuesday, which I think would have been March. And then in June, uh, there was the, the regular primary for state legislative, congressional races, et cetera. That was done just because a, a legislative leader in assembly speaker at the time wanted to extend term limits and, uh, had a ballot measure in March that would have grandfathered the men would have allowed them to run. Speaker 1: 04:48 You continue to run in the primary in June. That was all a political contrivance. Uh, and after that, uh, with, you know, decent turnout in March, but no, no turnout whatsoever in June, uh, the California went back to doing all of its primaries in June. Now the entire primary is held in March. Uh, and, and yet, I think, look, the biggest difference is whereas before California was just the ATM candidates would come in, hold fundraisers and leave. Now you have candidates coming in, holding fundraisers, and then many will occasionally do a public event while they're here, but usually not to the extent that they're doing in Iowa or New Hampshire, et cetera. Uh, and, and then they'll leave it with the exception, of course, being candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren don't do fundraisers. Uh, uh, Sanders has been pretty active in holding campaign events here and he definitely, you know, he has a fundraising base as a of his own grassroots fundraising base that, that, that helps him, uh, in, in doing these events. Speaker 1: 05:42 It's just, uh, you're, you're still not seeing California get the full Iowa treatment. There's still time. We're still a few months away from, from the primary, but at the same time it's, you know, this is the first time that California's like this. And so folks I talk with pointed out it might take time for candidates and campaigns to learn, uh, to take California seriously. It'll be interesting to see what the outcome is. You talk to a number of delegates to find out what issues are most important to them. What did they tell you? The one that stood out to me that, that I got a few more answers on than maybe some of the others is one that is unique, not unique to California, but certainly California is, uh, is at the forefront of this issue. And that is housing affordability and homelessness. I'm sure it is a, an issue in, in many other parts of the United States of America. Speaker 1: 06:30 But California appears to be ground zero for the cost of living squeeze that, that many Californians throughout the state are feeling. Um, you know, a delegate told my colleague Scott rod in a, in a story that, that, uh, we've, we've made available to be run that, that, I mean, this is a delegate from mammoth lakes. So, you know, rural Eastern side of the Sierra on the other side of Yosemite from, you know, the Western side, uh, that homelessness is a big issue for them. So, I mean, you know, in rural areas, urban areas, that's something that is on a lot of delegates minds. And it's something they said that unlike healthcare environment, et cetera, candidates aren't talking about housing and homelessness and housing affordability nearly as much as some of those others. Other issues. I've been speaking with Ben Adler from Capitol public radio. Ben, thanks so much for joining us. You're welcome.