Moving the primary to Feb.5 will be a good thing for California. Other states in the West have also made the move to earlier primaries, including Nevada, and many others are following suit. This can only be a good thing for the West's number one issue: water.

Water is the common element among the issues of global warming, population/growth management, immigration, farming, terrorism, and the environment. Where to get it, how to allocate it, where to store it, and how to keep it clean are uniquely Western problems. With the exception of a few mountain oases, from Denver to LA we live in a desert. With no vast aquifers, natural lakes, or the Mississippi River, we depend on massive government projects to keep us hydrated.

So here are my five questions of the day:

What are the candidates' ideas for making sure we have plenty of water for the future? How do they intend to protect the resources we have? What do they see as the government's role in regulating water use and conservation? What do they have planned to ensure our water supply is protected from sabotage? What is their plan for reforming the complex and often conflicting water laws in Western states and resolving the age-old issues around interstate allocation?