todd zwillich, you re a great political analyst and look at numbers. what do you think happens? will it pass and a lot are saying this is the democrats ballot initiative. gay marriage and social issues got republicans to the ballot back in 2004. does this get democrats to vote this issue in california. look, i think this election will still be about jobs and the economy. it makes sense democrats are looking for ways to get people out to the polls that aren t necessarily about jobs in the economy because if they re in power and the economy is in the tank it s not going to look good for them from the washington perspective. look, i don t know if this is necessarily a democrat or republican issue. those polls have tightened in recent weeks and have 56% of californians saying they re for this. you know, the savings, the $8.2 billion savings that s estimated, i think the actual numbers if marijuana were legalized in california would probably be somewhat less than that. look, the actual
this. you know, the savings, the $8.2 billion savings that s estimated, i think the actual numbers if marijuana were legalized in california would probably be somewhat less than that. look, the actual percentage of people would are incarcerated in california for marijuana charges is really only 1%. now, you could argue that s 1% too many if you think that marijuana is a relatively benign substance compared to alcohol or compared to cocaine or harder substances but it s not like half the people in california are there for marijuana charges and the police in california from what i ve been reading and gathering from the press there say that most of the marijuana charges come up come up pursuant to other charges, driving charges. i should say that s a study from it kato institute. let s talk about our political plague of the week.
and the third one is that it s a beyond a left and right issue. it has support across the political spectrum. also the support of the majority of the american people. todd, you re a great political analyst. you look at numbers. what do you think happens? will it pass? and a lot of people say this is the democrats ballot initiative. gay marriage got republicans to the ballot in 2004. would this get democrats to vote this issue in california? look, i think this election, pete, is still going to be about jobs and the economy. it makes sense democrats are looking for ways to get people out to the polls that are not necessarily about the jobs and economy. if they re in power and the economy s in the tank, it s not going to look for them. i don t know if this is necessarily a democratic or republican issue. those polls have tightened in recent weeks. i think you ve got 56% of californians now saying they re for this. the $8.2 billion savings
when the president was fighting for it, and here s the famous some would say infamous picture of the hug when you came out and supported the obama stimulus package. by the start of the year, florida had received $8.2 billion in stimulus funds, governor crist says that created or saved 87,000 jobs including 26,000 teaching jobs, before i let governor crist answer, mr. rubio, why is $8 billion and 87,000 jobs bad for a state with 12% unemployment. if it is bad for america it can t be good for your state and let me tell you why the stimulus failed. it stayed because since that famous day in february, where the governor campaigned with barack obama, on behalf of the stimulus program, 211,000 floridians have lost their jobs, today, just this week, it was announced we have the highest unemployment rate in florida s history and here s the centerpiece of the stimulus debate we need to talk about. we re running for the u.s. senate. and the choice for republicans in florida is, do you want a
let me start at the beginning. everyone in new york wants to talk about governor paterson and how incredibly evil he is for getting tickets to a yankees game and maybe i don t really know. it s new york. new york. that a s s the least of your problem. to review, may i? the state is projecting a deficit, a deficit of $8.2 billion this year. it has the second highest tax burden. the second highest among all of the states. they spend at a rate that is 33% above the national average. wow! the number of new york state workers making six figure salaries, that is $100,000 plus, is the largest in state history. four times higher than it was a decade ago. four times higher. wow! with all of these seemingly