DEMS NEUTRAL ON POT MEASURE

Mindful of Other Races, the State Party Decides Not to Endorse Prop. 19.

The state Democratic Party decided Sunday not to endorse the
marijuana legalization initiative on the November ballot after a
swift, passionate debate that left little doubt most Democrats in the
hotel meeting room intend to vote yes at the polls.

The party decided to adopt a neutral position on Proposition 19,
leaving the many local Democratic committees and organizations free
to endorse the measure.

Advocates for an endorsement cited many reasons to back the
initiative, but opponents pressed one overriding concern: a yes vote
could damage statewide candidates in competitive races.

"We're concerned that our candidates, Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer and
others, who have actually come out against this are going to be
compromised," said Steve Preminger, the chairman of the Santa Clara
County Democratic Central Committee, "so we're going to get lost in a
discussion about the merits of whether we should legalize or not,
when, really, we the Democratic Party want to put all of our efforts
into electing our ticket."

Robert Cruickshank, public policy director for the Courage Campaign,
which backs progressive causes, called for the vote in an attempt to
overturn a party committee's recommendation to adopt a neutral
position. He started by reminding the assembled Democrats that the
party's chairman, former San Francisco state Sen. John Burton, has
said pot was the issue that would motivate young voters to go to the
polls in this off-year election.

"If we endorse Proposition 19 and take a courageous position to
support reform, just as we took courageous positions on same-sex
marriage and other contentious issues, we will win the moral
argument, we will win Proposition 19 and we will win races in
November," Cruickshank said.

Proposition 19 would allow Californians 21 and older to grow, possess
and transport marijuana, and allow cities and counties to opt to
regulate and tax marijuana sales.

Burton said he believes the issue will engage young voters, a key
constituency for Democrats. He abstained on the vote but said he was
not convinced that an endorsement would hurt Brown's campaign for
governor, Boxer's bid for reelection to the U.S. Senate or the other
Democrats running for top state offices. "The statewide candidates, I
guess, are all antsy," he said.

He said he would vote for the initiative, adding: "And I haven't had
a joint in 30 years."

The party's executive board, which includes elected officials and
party representatives from across the state, voted 101 to 85 against
an endorsement. But the Democrats, despite taking a cautious stance,
appeared solidly behind the initiative, cheering and whooping much
more raucously for the pro-endorsement speakers.

Dan Rush, an official with Local 5 of the United Food and Commercial
Workers, who is running the legalization campaign's labor outreach,
said an endorsement would have been a "great boost" but that a
neutral position was still a victory. "We could have gotten a
resounding no," he said.