Pubdate: Mon, 20 Jan 2014
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2014 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Contact: http://www.reviewjournal.com/about/print/press/letterstoeditor.html
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233
Author: Toluse Olorunnipa, Bloomberg News

PUSH FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA MAY SWAY FLORIDA'S GOVERNOR RACE

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The pot vote may decide the Florida governor's race.

Democratic operatives are pushing a statewide referendum on medical 
marijuana that Republican Gov. Rick Scott's supporters say threatens 
to tilt the race against him. State Republicans have filed a legal 
challenge to keep the referendum off the ballot.

Democrats and marijuana activists across the country are monitoring 
Florida's quest to become the first state in the South to legalize 
some marijuana use, watching to see if the issue has a spillover 
effect that may offer a blueprint for the 2016 elections.

"It's an issue that the Democrats can use to pump up the youth vote," 
said Alex Patton, a Republican political consultant and pollster 
based in Gainesville, Fla. "The politics of it are dangerous for the GOP."

In previous elections, Republicans benefited from social issues being 
on the ballot. During President George W. Bush's re-election campaign 
in 2004, 11 states voted on gay marriage bans. Karl Rove, Bush's top 
strategist, denied engineering the ballot drives, while acknowledging 
the importance of social issues in fueling Republican turnout.

The architect of Florida's medical marijuana initiative, Orlando 
trial lawyer John Morgan, employs Charlie Crist, 57, the leading 
Democratic candidate for Florida governor, and serves as an adviser. 
No Democrat has won a governor's race in Florida since 1994. Crist 
held the office for four years, ending in 2011, as a Republican. He 
later switched parties.

Morgan - who runs one of the country's largest personal injury law 
firms and has hosted fundraisers for President Barack Obama - said he 
has contributed more than $3 million to the pot effort so far. He 
said he's planning to be a top fundraiser for Crist.

Activists hoping to put the question of legalizing medical marijuana 
before voters have collected about 1 million signatures, said Ben 
Pollara, campaign manager of the People United for Medical Marijuana 
and a Democratic strategist.

The Morgan-led group, created to support the Florida initiative, 
needs to have about 683,000 signatures verified by election 
supervisors by Feb. 1 to qualify. Pollara said he's confident the 
group will get enough.

Morgan, 57, says his roles in the governor's race and medical 
marijuana proposal are unrelated. He said he hasn't advised Crist - a 
former governor, attorney general, education commissioner and state 
senator from St. Petersburg who supports medical marijuana - to 
campaign on the issue.

Morgan likened his financial backing of the ballot initiative to 
philanthropic causes he's supported in the past. Both his father, who 
died from cancer, and brother, a quadriplegic, used marijuana for pain.

"I've seen it work, I know it works," said Morgan, who hired Crist at 
the Morgan & Morgan law firm after the former Republican governor 
lost a 2010 Senate race to Marco Rubio. Crist ran as an independent 
in that contest.

Morgan's law firm could benefit from having Crist in the governor's 
office, with veto power over legislation unfavorable to trial 
lawyers. Republicans and business groups have moved to crack down on 
trial lawyers in recent years.

Republicans say Morgan is trying to manipulate voter turnout in the 
November election to favor Crist in a state with a history of close 
contests. Obama carried Florida in 2012 by less than 1 percent of the 
vote, and Scott won in 2010 by 61,500 votes out of 5.3 million cast.

"It's a pretty transparent ploy," said Rick Wilson, a Republican 
strategist who once worked for Crist and now supports Scott, 61, a 
former health care executive.

Patton called the marijuana initiative "extremely well calculated" 
and said it could be a "game changer" for the 2014 election, 
offsetting the advantage Florida Republicans typically have in years 
with no presidential race. Republicans in Florida and elsewhere have 
performed best in such years, as Democratic-leaning young voters and 
minorities have stayed home.

"It's clear Democrats are very supportive and Republicans are split 
down the middle on this, but independents are overwhelmingly in 
support of medical marijuana," Clemens said.

As governor, Crist approved increased penalties for marijuana 
possession. Last year, he said he supports the proposed ballot 
measure to help those in need of pain relief.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom