Richard Grevers wrote:
Well even the smaller states of India are more populous than most US states.
Excuse my ignorance of the US electoral system, but are there gubnertorial contests happening in some or all of the other states at the same time? If there are, then why should California be singled out, other than for the reason that California tends to be self aggrandizing? And the reason for that might be that it is home to the third-largest film and TV industry in the world and the accompanying media circus?
Well, one reason is that it's a recall election, not a normal election, which is somewhat unusual in non-parliamentary systems. Secondly, Arnold Schwarzenegger is running an apparently serious campaign, which makes people take notice. If, say, David Hasselhof were running a serious campaign for a state governorship in Germany, it'd probably make the US papers too.
-Mark