Biggest states call the shots, but have given few presidents

SAN FRANCISCO

: For a state that is the weightiest of the 50 in terms of electoral college (with 55 of the 270 votes needed to win the White House), California does not get talked about a lot in the US presidential elections.

Even on Election Day, the state votes last by virtue of it being on west coast, three hours behind the east coast, with its electorate trooping into the polling booths till 8pm Pacific time, long after east coasters have had dinner and gone to bed, and exit polls straining to announce forecasts.

The Golden State couldn't care; it shines on its own and is currently shining on the Democratic Party . California is considered such a shoo-in for Hillary Clinton and such an impossibility for Republican rival Donald Trump to win that neither candidate has bothered to campaign or spend much time here, except to raise money from its two elites -the Hollywood crowd and the Silicon Valley stars.

Considered a solid blue Democratic state (Republicans last won the state in 1988), its 55 electoral college votes form the bedrock of Clinton's drive towards 270+ that will put her in the White House.New York (29 electoral votes) forms the next blue tier. In terms of electoral weightage, California and New York are like what Uttar Pradesh and Bihar used to be in the India with their 85 and 54 Lok Sabha seats, respectively (before the states were split).

California's 55 electoral college votes, docked into Clinton's account because of the 20 point lead she holds in the state, is more than the combined electoral college votes from nine other Red Republican states that are counted in Trump's column : Idaho (4 electoral college votes)

Wyoming

(3), North Dakota (3), Nebraska (4),

Oklahoma

(7),

Arkansas

(6),

Alabama

(9), Kentucky (8) and

West Virginia

(5).

For Trump, Texas, with 38 electoral votes, is considered the biggest prize and even that is considered “leaning Republican“ now rather than solid Republican because of its demographic changes.Florida, which is the joint third largest state (along with New York) with 29 electoral votes, is a toss-up state.

For a state of California's economic size (its $2.5 trillion GDP is larger than India's and if counted as a separate country it would be the 7th largest economy) and electoral heft, it has contributed few US presidents. Only three of 44 (Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan) were from California, and only Nixon was born in the state.

By state of birth, Virginia has given the most presidents -eight (including four of the first five) and followed by Ohio's seven. But by state of primary affiliation, New York and Ohio have given six each and Virginia five. A Clinton or Trump victory would put New York on top (since both claim New York as their home state), although Clinton was born in Illinois, which has given US four other state-born presidents (Lincoln, Grant, Reagan, and Obama).

In California, which used to be Republican for two decades before it turned Democratic (which has won last six presidential elections), and in Texas, which used to be mostly Democratic till it turned Republican (which has won last nine presidential elections), there is no sense of being denied. About 30 US states have not produced a president so far.