California's ballot issues addressed

By Samantha Hayes in Los Angeles, California

I've got news for the Mamas And The Papas. Turns out, it does rain in Southern California. 

And the rain on Sunday night, when we flew into L.A. from Atlanta, caused flash flooding in some areas according to local news reports.

But while weather may be the big story today, very soon it's going to be a flood of something else, delegates. Hundreds of them to come from the California primary on February 5th -- Super Tuesday's Mother Load.

According to an article in this morning's Los Angles Times, there's already a big kink in the voting process.

The secretary of state decertified the vast majority of electronic voting machines in California because she felt they were vulnerable to tampering or they were defected.

So as a result, about a third of California counties are scrambling to prepare before the primary, printing millions of ballots.

But whether they punch a ballot, or press an electronic screen, California voters will play a heavy hand in the nomination process of candidates and are watching closely at the last races before February 5th.

Officially, that has already taken place for the Democrats. I say officially because as it stands now, no delegates will be awarded to the winner of the Florida Democratic Primary tomorrow.  So last weekend's win in South Carolina was a big one for Barack Obama, and he's hoping his victory in that state's primary will widen his national appeal.

Tomorrow's primary in Florida is the last stop for Republicans, one week before Super Tuesday. The winner of that contest - which on the eve of voting looks to be between John McCain and Mitt Romney - could see significant momentum before more than 20 states jump into the fray.  At stake in California alone on Super Tuesday are 370 Democratic delegates and 170 Republican delegates.