California to wield power in Washington

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Californians have grabbed key positions in the incoming Obama administration, and the state's clout in Congress has been enhanced, political observers say.

Those two factors will position California to replace Texas as the U.S. state whose culture and political leanings will have the most dominant effect on the nation's capital going forward, the Washington publication Politico reported Monday.

Californians, including U.S. energy secretary-designate Steven Chu, Secretary of Labor-designate Hilda Solis and incoming Council of Economic Advisers chairwoman Christina Romer, will occupy key positions in U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's White House.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, leads California's 34-member bloc in that chamber, constituting the largest such state delegation in the Democratic Caucus, the publication noted.

"California will have substantial influence in the administration partly because of those selected for posts in government and partly because of the speaker and our committee chairmen," Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., chairwoman of California's Democratic congressional delegation, told Politico. "And there's certainly people in Silicon Valley who haven't been hired but are wired in like (chief executive officers) Eric Schmidt over at Google and John Thompson at Symantec."