cannabisnews.com: Prop. 19: Fight Over Pot Starts To Heat Up function share_this(num) { tit=encodeURIComponent('Prop. 19: Fight Over Pot Starts To Heat Up'); url=encodeURIComponent('http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/26/thread26064.shtml'); site = new Array(5); site[0]='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+url+'&title='+tit; site[1]='http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit.php?url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[2]='http://digg.com/submit?topic=political_opinion&media=video&url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[3]='http://reddit.com/submit?url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[4]='http://del.icio.us/post?v=4&noui&jump=close&url='+url+'&title='+tit; window.open(site[num],'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=620,height=500'); return false; } Prop. 19: Fight Over Pot Starts To Heat Up Posted by CN Staff on October 24, 2010 at 05:02:30 PT By Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer Source: San Francisco Chronicle California -- No TV ads. No billboards. Just a lot of news conferences, endorsement announcements, mailings by special-interest groups and phone calls to voters.That's what the battle has consisted of so far in the campaigns around the lowest-key, highest-interest election issue on the Nov. 2 ballot - Proposition 19, which would legalize personal marijuana use for adults. And that's pretty much the game plan from here to the end. The very subject of legalizing marijuana has been in the public discourse for so many decades that many people apparently have their minds made up already, observers and combatants say. So the main challenge has been to fire up the converted on both sides, while educating voters in the middle to shore up the margins.A Public Policy Institute of California survey released Thursday showed 49 percent of Californians saying they would vote no on the measure, and 44 percent saying they'd vote yes. That's a turnaround from a Field Poll last month that had Prop. 19 up, 49 percent to 42 percent. A smattering of smaller polls disagree on which side is ahead.What this means, in the home stretch toward election day, is that Prop. 19 is still up for grabs."It's probably going to be a squeaker one way or another," said Tom Angell, media director for Prop. 19."Our message is harder to get out, because it's got a little more complexity, but we're making headway," said Roger Salazar, spokesman for the No on Prop. 19 effort. "The other side is working overtime to generate some press, and so are we." No Ads The most striking thing about the campaign is the lack of the advertisements, even though polls indicate Prop. 19 is by far the most recognizable measure on the ballot. It's also been drawing international headlines because it would make California the first place in the United States to legalize recreational pot."We're seeing lots of ads for everything else on the ballot, aren't we? But not Prop. 19," said Martin Carcieri, a political science professor at San Francisco State University. "It tells us that this is such a touchy subject you have to be careful. Snipped Complete Article: http://drugsense.org/url/zbgsQFx3Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff WriterPublished: October 24, 2010Copyright: 2010 San Francisco Chronicle Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by FoM on October 24, 2010 at 08:43:07 PT rancher I'm hoping you win! [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by rancher on October 24, 2010 at 08:35:45 PT: Oregon Measure 74 The election in Oregon for Measure 74 which will create the most far reaching dispensary system is playing out similarly. We have done an excellent job of getting earned media and have gotten some key endorsements, including Tom Potter, the former mayor and police chief of Portland, a former Supreme Court justice and a former U.S. Attorney. We have not been able to raise the big money we need to run TV commercials but Tom Potter has recorded a radio spot that we are raising funds to put on the air. If you would like to help pass M 74 (and create the first state law to license commercial marijuana farmers) please visit measure74.org and make a contribution. You can also use the system there to make phone calls to help us get out the vote. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment