i drive over 50 miles a day and it s getting harder and harder. the politics of pot. no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana. the president pardons thousands. is it the first step toward nationwide legalization? inside politics, the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters now. welcome to inside politics sunday, i m abby phillip. control of the u.s. senate could well rest on the state of georgia. republicans can t be feeling good about their chances there after the week their candidate has had. days after a woman told the daily beast that herschel walker encouraged her and paid for her abortion in 2009, the new york times is reporting on friday that he wanted her to have a second abortion two years later. that time she told the new york times she refused. she has the baby who is now ten years old. that child is one of three children that walker had not acknowledged publicly until this year. quote, as a father, she told the time
that s why you see rick scott and tom cotton going down to georgia this week. that s why you see ralph reid, a social conservative leader in the movement and with georgia roots, on the day this is happening, go out and talk to reporters and totally vouch for walker. there s no other option here for them. it s a 50/50 senate. this is a linchpin race for the republicans if they are indeed going to take over the majority, and this is their candidate. i do think we have to be a little careful here because i don t think we know yet how voters are responding to these allegations and how much of this is baked in or not, to pre-existing perceptions of walker because these other stories you highlighted are out there. i don t know that we really have a sense yet of how much this shifted voters perceptions. we will know in the next few days. no doubt about it.
talking about more and more as people have the smart phones and digital devices and can t imagine a world without them without realizing corporations are tracking every transaction you make. i think that privacy is going to be a huge issue going forward in the next couple of years. let s move to the races, the top three races to watch. let s start with the louisiana senate. i think louisiana senate race could be the linchpin race. incumbent mary landrieu going up against a republican there. this is a red state, but if mary landrieu can hold on, this is the race we are watching politically to say if this one stays democratic, maybe they hold the senate by one. if they don t, this could be where we look at it and say this is how republicans wind uptaking control. everybody is watching this one. the florida governor s race.
coming in at number three for us is maybe the linchpin race. if democrats hold louisiana, the path for the republicans to get their six suddenly is totally blocked. this has been among the most contentious races we ve seen in this off year already. republicans have to figure out if bill cassidy can get through and make it to the finals before he gets beaten up. he s also had some fund-raising problems. at number two, florida governor. let me just put it to you this way. it s rick scott, it s charlie crist, well-known figures. in 2000, bush and gore competed in 12 swing states over a 90-day period. combined they spent $130 million. 14 years later in one state race, you are going to have two candidates spend close to $200 million on one race. think about that. finally, there s kentucky senate, which apparently is so big and so hot that it s not on my board, but this has got it all if you think about it when it comes to kentucky. it s mitch mcconnell facing a