Once the contest for the Republican nomination for President is over, each candidate will focus on building a majority in the Electoral College to win in November. This new presentation outlines each party's base in the Electoral College, where the battles are likely to be fought, and each party's recent performance by state.

My analysis of the presidential contest appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune on Sunday, February 5, the day after the Nevada caucuses:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is going to be the Republican nominee for president in 2012, baring some unlikely radical change in the political dynamic before Super Tuesday in March. The results in Nevada reaffirm this eventuality.

The other candidates have missed their opportunity.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum can continue to run, but he increasingly looks like the guy who stands on his front lawn under an umbrella on a sunny day expecting it to rain any minute now.

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, by contrast, knows very well he will not ever be president. He is running to make a point, and he has made it.

The Republican National Convention is most known for nominating the party's candidate for President and Vice President. It also conducts other important business of the Republican Party, such as the adoption of rules and taking the legal steps necessary for the party to exist for the subsequent four years.

Califronia will send a total of 172 delegates to the national convention, the most of any state. The 172-member delegation consists of 159 members who will be elected by Congressional District, 10 statewide at-large delegates, and the state's three RNC Members (the state chairman, the national committeeman, and national committeewoman). In addition, the state will send 169 alternates to the convention (the three RNC members are not permitted alternates). The total size of the delegation, including both delegates and alternates: 341.

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The San Diego Unified School District is in big trouble financially, and the district now faces the prospect of a state takeover amid a deteriorating financial situation for one of the largest school districts in the state.

While recent changes in state education funding are being blamed for the districts poor financial condition, reports have emerged that there have been discussions within the district for at least two years concerning the potential for insolvency.

The time frame for these discussions is noteworthy because it turns out that at roughly the same time there were internal warnings about the possibility of the district becoming insolvent, the union-backed board majority voted to impose a Project Labor Agreement on $2.1 billion in new construction approved under Proposition S, passed in 2008.

As a former school board trustee, I've seen first-hand how powerful interests line up to pass school bonds. Unfortunately, many districts rack up big maintenance backlogs as a result of political pressure to dump all available resources into compensation (school district employees have politically connected labor unions influencing elections, while deteriorating buildings do not). Bonds are in turn used to borrow money to not only pay for new construction, but also for repairs which should have been paid for year to year.

To use a family analogy, a leaky roof or a backed up pipe should be repaired on the spot. Instead, districts often let the work pile up and then take out a second mortgage to pay for it all, and put an extension on the house to boot.