Citigroup Redraws the Battle Lines Across the Golden State.(acquisition of Golden State...

California is the sixth-biggest economy in the world-all by itself. It's the most populous state in the union. It's amazing it took Sandy Weill so long to plant his flag there.

With his firm's purchase of Golden State Bancorp, analysts say the Citi juggernaut may finally be rolling out its Western campaign.

When Citi bought Mexico City-based Banamex for $12.5 billion last year, the plan was emerging-roughly one- third of California's population of 35 million is Hispanic. But many say it appeared for a while as if Citi was just "dabbling" in California-until