More than a million Californians have registered to vote since Sept. 5, pushing the states total to 17.3 million registered voters--the bulk of them, by far, Democrats.

In a statement issued Friday, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen reported that the number of  Democrats increased to 7.683 million, or 44% of the states registered voters.

That was an increase of 600,000 voters from May. It also reflects a gain over 2004, when there were 7.1 million Democrats, accountin