why is California's Democratic establishment rallying hard to defeat prop 19?

[Associate Justice PiT]

even Gavin Newsom... painful stuff for those with sense and feeling.  it would be nice to see Brown Newsom and Boxer get trashed while 19 sneaks by. 

My bet is that it polls badly with Minorities, and it might give Whitman or Fiorina some traction with them if they oppose it while the Democrats support it.

there's not conclusive evidence on that, at least with blacks, but then again they make up only what, 5% of the CA electorate nowadays so who cares. it says a lot about the indoctrination system that minorities would even consider opposing such a measure given what drug laws have done to them in this country for the past 40 years.

     I'm guessing that people who have been hosed by drug laws are severely underrepresented in the electorate, for a few different reasons.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Maybe they're afraid all their voters will get stoned on Election day and won't turn out.

Seriously though, you have to consider that Drug legalization is a very Libertarian position, and Democrats are running as Liberals.  It's not exactly jaw-dropping that they might oppose it.

     Drug legalization fits nicely in the liberal paradigm as well. The issue is that Democrats don't have the guts necessary to push for something like marijuana legalization.