JOHN McCAIN spent half of last week in California and it looks like he wasn't just fundraising. The state legislature has just passed a measure allowing for the proportional allotment of electoral votes in the presidential election. There were burblings about this back in the autumn—state Republicans were agitating for a ballot initiative to that effect. But it was thought that Democrats would have no trouble blocking it; Democratic presidential candidates need to win all of California's 55 electoral votes to counter the Republicans' hold on the south and middle America.

Did Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has endorsed Mr McCain, twist some arms? Or was California tired of being overlooked in the general as the candidates lavish their love on Florida and Ohio and Missouri? Either way, this is very bad news for the Democrats. With California going proportional, it is likely that Mr McCain will win anywhere from 15 to 20 electoral votes in the state. That's the equivalent of winning Ohio.

As expected, Mr McCain has called it a "fair move" for a state that is "increasingly shading red." Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, are fuming; they've actually forgotten to fight each other today, although Mr Obama will soon realise that this makes Mrs Clinton's primary victory in California seem rather less important. Also a bit, uh, discomfited is the Democratic National Committee, which issued the following scathing press release.