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From pot to guns, they’re on the ballot this fall

Politics

The Morning Line

Today in the Morning Line:

  • Two states could legalize marijuana
  • Five states vote on whether to raise the minimum wage
  • Washington state decides whether to expand or restrict gun background checks
  • Three states decide on whether to effectively tighten access to abortion

What’s on the ballot and where: With less than two weeks to go until Election Day — and with 99 percent of the focus so far on control of the Senate — we thought we’d take a step back and look at the ballot initiatives and referenda of interest throughout the country. After all, these measures, if approved, will actually be law and affect people’s lives in a more tangible way than who controls the Senate, which won’t have a filibuster-proof majority. From marijuana and the minimum wage to guns, abortion and voting rights to genetically modified foods, here’s an overview of what’s on the ballot where:

— Marijuana: Three states, plus Washington, D.C., are taking up an expansion of marijuana laws. Alaska, Oregon, and D.C. would legalize; Florida would expand to allow medical marijuana.
— Minimum wage: Five states are considering raising it from anywhere from $8.50 to $10 an hour — Alaska, Arkansas, Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota. Illinois would raise it the highest, to $10 by the start of the year. Alaska would raise it to $9.75 by 2016 and tie it to inflation after that.
— Guns: Washington state has conflicting gun background-check measures on the ballot in the first gun initiatives on the ballot post-Newtown; Alabama would strengthen gun protections.
— Abortion rights/birth control: Three states could tighten abortion rights — Colorado, North Dakota and Tennessee; Illinois weighs requiring insurers to pay for birth control.
— Voting rights: Voters in Connecticut will decide whether to change its constitution to allow early voting; voters in Missouri will decide on a contentious initiative that creates an early voting window, but isn’t as open as some would like. Montanans will decide if voters should stop being allowed to register to vote on Election Day.
— Genetically modified foods: Two states consider whether to label foods that have been genetically modified — Colorado and Oregon.
— Licenses for undocumented immigrants: Oregon weighs giving licenses to immigrants in the United States illegally.
— Drug testing doctors: California could begin drug testing doctors and might raise the medical malpractice limit.
— Investigational drugs for the terminally ill: Arizona’s “Right to Try” initiative weighs whether to make available investigational, non-FDA approved drugs for terminally-ill patients.
— Prison sentencing: California could lower non-violent felonies to misdemeanors.

Daily Presidential Trivia: On this day in 1962, President Kennedy informed Americans about his order to send U.S. forces to blockade Cuba. Why did he send troops to blockade Cuba? Be the first to tweet us the correct answer using #PoliticsTrivia and you’ll get a Morning Line shout-out. No one guessed Tuesday’s trivia: Who succeeded Justices Rehnquist and Powell, and who were they nominated by? The answer was: Justice Kennedy by Reagan and Chief Justice Roberts by George W. Bush.

LINE ITEMS

  • Ben Bradlee, the former executive editor of The Washington Post who led the paper during its legendary Watergate coverage, died Tuesday at his home in Washington, D.C., the newspaper reported. He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia. He was 93.

  • The Center for Public Integrity reports that because of a “quirk in federal law,” any new fundraising done by super PACs between Oct. 15 and Election Day does not need to be revealed until early December.

  • Freedom Partners Action Fund, a super PAC backed by the Koch brothers, is launching a $6.5 million buy against Democrats in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire and North Carolina.

  • There’s been a flood of ads this cycle — over 125,000 in Senate races — focused on climate change, energy and the environment. In fact, energy and the environment are the third-most mentioned issue in general election Senate ads, according to an analysis by Kantar/CMAG.

  • Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst is back with another pork-themed campaign ad. Standing in the middle of a pig sty, Ernst says, “It’s a mess — dirty, noisy, and it stinks. I’m talking about Washington. Too many typical politicians hogging, wasting, and full of…let’s just say, bad ideas.”

  • In Georgia, the race for an open Senate seat is dividing voters between Republican David Perdue and Democrat Michelle Nunn. Both seek to distance themselves from President Obama’s policies while gathering support from white and African-American voters who often diverge on party lines. NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff reports from the Peach State.

  • A deciding factor in the Kentucky Senate race might not be that a majority of voters like Alison Grimes, but that a strong majority dislike Sen. Mitch McConnell, according to a Western Kentucky University poll.

  • “By the time the heated governor versus governor debate in Florida ended Tuesday night, it was clear no man had a fan,” the New York Times’ Lizette Alvarez writes about the hostility on display between Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist in their final face-off.

  • Likely voters in Florida’s gubernatorial race are split 42-42 percent between Scott and Crist, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday. The Independent garners 7 percent.

  • A North Carolina Senate debate turned into a one-man roundtable, when Sen. Kay Hagan did not show up Tuesday night. Hagan’s campaign says it was not one of the original three debates agreed upon by both camps, leaving her opponent Thom Tillis to answer questions on his own.

  • Republicans had viewed Michigan as a potential Senate pick up, just like Iowa, but Roll Call’s Alexis Levinson details all the reasons the Wolverine State isn’t as competitive. For starters, there’s been no defining message on either side, and Republican Terri Lynn Land has underperformed as a candidate compared to Iowa’s Joni Ernst.

  • Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee campaigned for Ernst in Iowa Tuesday. Michelle Obama was back in Iowa to campaign for Bruce Bailey — err Braley. And while the First Lady did get the candidate’s name right this time, the White House’s press office later distributed a transcript of her remarks by email with “Democratic candidate for governor” in the subject line.

  • Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy leads Republican Tom Foley 43 to 42 percent, with the Independent holding 9 percent, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday.

  • The Democratic underdog in Michigan’s 11th District is attacking the Republican with a particularly brutal ad about eviction.

  • The Justice Department’s success shifting terrorism cases from secret prisons or offshore military tribunals to civilian courts may be one of outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder’s biggest legacies.

  • In some campaigns, playing up an incumbent’s “record” on the Islamic State might be an effective strategy, but in Minnesota Rep. Rick Nolan’s race, that attack is falling flat.

  • Retiring Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn ridicules the National Institutes of Health in his final “Wastebook,” which details extraneous government spending each year.

  • In maybe the oddest appearance by a member of Congress, the Alaska Daily News writes. “At a Wasilla High School assembly Tuesday morning, U.S. Rep. Don Young didn’t temper his notoriously abrasive personality for his young audience. Numerous witnesses say Young, 81, acted in a disrespectful and sometimes offensive manner to some students, used profanity and started talking about bull sex when confronted with a question about same-sex marriage.”

  • Keep an eye on the Rundown blog for breaking news throughout the day, our home page for show segments, and follow @NewsHour for the latest.

TOP TWEETS

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Questions or comments? Email Domenico Montanaro at dmontanaro-at-newshour-dot-org or Rachel Wellford at rwellford-at-newshour-dot-org.

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We're not going anywhere.

Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on!

By —

Domenico Montanaro

By —

Simone Pathe

@sfpathe
By —

Rachel Wellford

Rachel Wellford is a general assignment producer for PBS NewsHour.

@rachelwellford

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