There is an interesting (and potentially important) change occurring on the ballots of states with tight Senate races. Legalization of marijuana issues are appearing on the ballots in places like Alaska and Oregon and are expected to draw in younger voters. This could be the margin that the Democrats need to reduce their expected losses. However, the Democratic leadership has followed the lead of President Obama in opposing (or at least not supporting) legalization efforts. The result is that the Democrats could benefit from the ballot pull of pot but do not appear to be capitalizing on the prospect.
Brookings Institution expert John Hudak expects an influx of potential young Democratic votes. All that is required is a couple seats to stay blue for the Democrats to keep the Senate — though Joe Biden might have to become a full-time member of the Senate in casting votes on ties. The GOP is widely expected to make gains in both houses but the pot issue could be a game changer in a couple of states. The GOP is counting on Alaska and Oregon.
These type of wedge issues have worked for the GOP with the gay marriage ballot issues in the past. Hudak says however that the Democrats are missing this “real opportunity” to use pot at the polls.
They seem to be trying to have it both ways in a political version of Bill Clinton insisting that he tried marijuana but “I didn’t inhale.”
The problem before us is to identify our packages and rewrite them all whereas persevering with to dwell our lives, yet that is the task of healing.
Legalization should happen, but its still a fairly complicated issue. First we have the states themselves, then the Federal government on top of which there’s actual treaties on this. Uruguay went ahead and just breached the treaty, but long entrenched laws sometimes take time to weed themselves out (pun intended)
Paul,
The Clarence Darrow character lost in the movie too.
One of the things the movie left out was just how classy William Jennings Bryan could be. There was nothing personal in this case for him. Bryan actually offered to pay Scopes fine if Scopes were convicted (he was), but Bryan died days after the trial. Also, the local townsfolk were not the violent and hostile rubes portrayed in the film.
Although Darrow and the right to teach evolution technically lost at trial, there was great victory in that defeat. The famous sequence of Darrow examining Bryan on biblical text never made it to the jury, but it made it to the papers. Genesis had exposed as illogical and self-contradictory – publicly and widely.
The case went up and was reversed on other grounds, but that was irrelevant for the long term. The Scopes trial had finally pushed the literal Genesis position out of rational debate.
Or so many people thought. But, then again, a lot of people thought Jason was killed in a more than a few of those Friday the 13th movies.
Most who are stoned remain silent…
Thank you, Modern Miner. Tends to be more libertarian in the west. I see the south is not represented on the list. For some reason when I think of red states I think southern.
Uh… We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming…
Regarding SWM’s comment way way above: “Can’t think of a red state where marijuana has been legalized or is even available for medical use.” Here’s the latest list: http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881
The list of 23 states is mostly composed of blue ones, but the three that are not are pretty red: Arizona, Nevada, and Alaska. Arizona’s proposition passed in 2010 by the slimmest of margins – 50.13% – and the GOP players in the state have been throwing hurdles and speed bumps in the path of those seeking to implement the will of the people ever since, but the first dispensary did open in 2012.
Nothing like declaring yourself the winner in a ‘contest’ where you make up all the rules AND the answers.
Congratulations, genius.
I guess Nick has never heard of the rural poor.
Dems are mayors of nearly all large cities so of course some are successful and some are not. I failed the test. So be it.
Any idea what criteria is being used to define “bad” cities other than being “black holes”? I tried googling “Forbes CNBC failed cities” and got nothing like the results posted here.
Part of being an investigator is giving people an opportunity to be forthcoming and see if they take it. I gave you a heads up. If I were interviewing you professionally I wouldn’t give you a hint. I ask a question I know the person can answer and see if they are forthcoming. Then, I adjust accordingly. But, you showed you can’t be intellectually honest, at least in this discussion, by refusing to come up w/ any bad cities. It reflects poorly on you. That ends it for me. You lose. I’m declaring victory unilaterally like a former GBer here used to do daily.
Houston has a gay dem mayor. She just got married in California.
No, I like Austin. What I meant was good cities in terms of a business climate not necessarily good places to live. Sante Fe, Boulder and San Diego are desirable places to live.
Particularly w/ Houston! Austin is of course VERY PC. They got a superb DA.
SWM, I would add Santa Fe, San Diego, Tampa and Boulder to your list of good cities, showing good faith. There are MANY more bad cities, but I ended my list giving you an opportunity to list some bad cities. Gut check, as it were. Got any to add to my list?
I am astounded you listed 3 Texas cities as “good.” A little throw-up must have come up into your mouth.
Failed or failing cities, only one run by a Republican”
Detroit
Flint
Rockford
Chicago
Cleveland
Modesto
Warren, Mi.
Stockton
Waukegan
NYC
Toledo
St. Louis
Camden
Milwaukee
Newark
Atlanta
Gary
Atlantic City
Gary
Youngstown
El Paso
Virginia Beach
Cincy
Buffalo
Akron
Jersey City
This list is from Forbes and CNBC. Virtually all of major US cities are run by Dem machines. They are a monopoly. They are a black hole of taxes, waste, crime, corruption, poor schools and poverty.
Thanks for that, fiver.
It’s actually quite the opposite. The heavily populated areas generally subsidize the rural areas.
Here’s the net federal tax breakdown (taxes paid versus benefits received) by state: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/02/is-your-state-a-net-giver-or-taker-of-federal-taxes/
That result isn’t very surprising. The sparsely populated Nevada desert, for example, might show up as a substantial red area on a map, but, in reality, a handful of people and a bunch of tumbleweeds don’t produce very much.
nick, Lots of cities are doing well. Austin, Portland, Boston, NYC, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Minneapolis, Seattle, Denver just to mention a few have dem mayors and are doing well.
Cantwell won by 16 points.