THE LEFT TAKES OVER BALLOT INITIATIVES

Schools, Tobacco Taxes, Marijuana Among Issues

LOS ANGELES -- Liberals have overtaken conservatives on a political
battleground they once ceded to the other side. Liberal ideas will
outnumber conservative initiatives on ballots this fall.

"Progressives have accepted that this process is not going to go away,"
says Kristina Wilfore of the liberal-backed Ballot Initiative Strategy
Center. "So we should get our act together to be as effective as the other
side has been."

Conservatives turned to initiatives when they did not control many
legislatures or governors' offices, political scientist John Fortier says.

The 1990s brought a wave of GOP governors and legislatures and tax cuts.
Since 1994, Fortier says, "Conservatives are getting more through the
traditional legislative process."

Law can be made by citizen-driven initiatives in 24 states and the District
of Columbia. Sponsors must collect a required number of signatures and meet
other conditions.

Conservatives began using initiatives to set the national agenda in 1978,
when Californians passed Proposition 13 to cut property taxes nearly 60%.

Since then, voters in various states have been asked to limit abortion,
curtail union political activity and give parents tuition vouchers for
private school. Key conservative victories include California initiatives
to end affirmative action and bilingual education.

The first major initiative passed by liberals was Oregon's 1994 law to let
doctors help terminally ill patients die.

This year, Wilfore says, ballots are likely to carry nearly twice as many
liberal as conservative ideas. Among them:

* Smaller classes, preschool for all and an indoor smoking ban in Florida.

* Decriminalizing marijuana in Nevada and allowing medicinal marijuana use
in Arizona and South Dakota.

* Raising tobacco taxes to pay for health care in Missouri and Arizona, and
health coverage for all in Oregon.

* Election Day voter registration in California and Colorado.

* Money for after-school programs in California, sponsored by actor Arnold
Schwarzenegger, a Republican.

On the conservative side, voters in Massachusetts and probably Colorado
will decide whether to abolish bilingual education. Nevadans will consider
a ban on same-sex marriages.