Feb. 22--IN THE PRE-DAWN hours of the budget fracas last week, a lone -- and now lonely -- state senator revived the open primary fight in California.

Sen. Abel Maldonado, a moderate Central Coast Republican, broke with his party and demanded the Legislature let voters decide the open primary question in return for his critical vote on the budget.

Horse-trading for votes is disturbing on many levels, but the open primary was headed for the ballot anyway. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reportedly told legislators that he would spend millions of dollars bringing it to the ballot through an initiative.

In fact, one of the seltzer pills offered to gagging Democrats was the idea that it would allow them to put the measure on the election of their choice -- June 2010 -- rather than an earlier date that could put it in play in the governor's race.

So, the open primary debate has arrived. Here's how it would work:

Today, voters register as members of qualified political parties or as a "decline to state."

Voters of each party nominate in the primary their top choice for the general election. (Most parties allow independents to vote in their primaries with some exceptions.)

In the open primary, all candidates appear on the same ballot and they need not list their party preferences.

The top two finishers would advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation. That

means two Democrats or two Republicans could face each other.

It would apply to all partisan races including Congress, legislative seats, the governor and other constitutional offices.

Parties hate it but advocates say the open primary opens the doors to moderates who fail to gain traction in low-turnout primaries where voters are typically the most liberal or conservative members of the parties.

Lawmakers elected by a cross-section of voters may be less inclined toward the hyperpartisan politics that led to the budget meltdown, they say.

Former Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla of Pittsburg is a fan.

The moderate Democrat was elected in 2000 during California's brief flirtation with an open primary. (The courts later struck it down after the parties sued.)

Once in office, Canciamilla infuriated party leaders when he cofounded a bipartisan coalition that produced alternative budgets.

He termed out and eyed a run for the Senate but withdrew in the face of challenger Mark DeSaulnier, a more liberal lawmaker who had the full force of the party and its allies behind him.