Earlier this month, the LA Times had an op-ed asking, Is California the new New Hampshire?

Yesterday, the Washington Times tried to answer that question.

No, California is not the new New Hampshire, asserts Washington Times writer Christina Bellantoni.

Bellatoni points out the frustration of California voters who had hoped that moving the primary to February 5 would force the candidates to give California a larger slice of the campaign pie. Instead, campaign visits have barely increased, and candidates have been visiting the state largely to raise money, not to reach the voters.

It seems that even one of the largest states cannot break the bond between presidential hopefuls and the earliest primary states.

For more on this, check out this week’s Innovative Analysis.

Other posts by Laura Kirshner

• Shift of fewer than 400,000 votes could have swung the election in McCain’s favor - November 5th, 2008
• 1 in 14 chance that the Electoral College winner will lose the National Popular Vote - September 8th, 2008
• Bi-partisan Panel Signs Joint Resolution for 2012 Primary Reform - August 21st, 2008
• Pushing back the Primaries: Don Means leads the National Caucus for 2012 Reform - August 1st, 2008
• Straight From the Horse’s Mouth: “Only winning the swing states matters” - July 8th, 2008
• The potential for women in the Senate - June 5th, 2008
• Ickes: System is "out of kilter" - August 27th, 2007
• Fix The Primaries in Miami Herald's Opinion Pages - August 15th, 2007
• California still left out of the campaign spotlight - July 30th, 2007
• The Shrinking Battleground: It's Smaller Than You Think - July 23rd, 2007