California's Growing Clout in DC

Leon Panetta is just the latest Californian to assume an important new role in Washington. Nancy Pelosi is House Speaker, LA Congresswoman Hilda Solis will be Secretary of Labor, Steven Chu of UC Berkeley's National Radiation Laboratory, will be Secretary of Energy, and LA Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley will run the White House Council on Environmental Quality. In addition, Congressmen Henry Waxman, George Miller and Howard Berman all chair House committees; Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein are senior members of the Senate. Californians have achieved great heights in Washington. What will that mean for the state?