I agree with Peter Tosh, [and for that matter with George Schultz, Bill Buckly, Milton Friedman, and Cato Institute], and for those who care here is the link to the NORML homepage. However, that is not a major issue this election cycle, indeed, it seldom is a front burner issue. It is more marganalize it, vs legalize it. But I digress.
The election should be about two things only: Norm Coleman's record, his running on it, and Franken running on it, each with opposing views of Norm Coleman's independence, his effectiveness, and the benefits or burdens of a change.
Second, besides the record - the things each of the two stands for, the range of issues and what answers Franken proposes, what answers Coleman offers.
That's it. The record. The issues.
The crap should be left out, and anyone trying to shift focus from Coleman's role as Bush butler, Cheney lapdog, etc., should be chastized. What Franken wrote nearly a decade ago, what Coleman wrote and smoked and whatever in college, at Hofstra, is not news. It is old. It is irrelevant. Some in the DFL felt a vetting was needed at the convention and they had it, having Al say, "Sorry."
Leave it there, now, please.
Look at the final Strib paragraph on one of it's online articles about the convention, Franken's conduct there, and the single ballot - then acclamation victory, for Franken:
Franken said he accepted endorsement in a "spirit of tremendous gratitude and tremendous humility" and would dedicate himself to the tasks of securing universal health care, leveling the economic playing field, improving educational opportunities and withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.
The gratitude/humility cliche aside, that is a fine list of today's main issues.
The present characters of the two candidates, who they have shown themselves to be in recent years, not the distant past, is fair game. Was Norm Coleman good for St. Paul and how does that reflect on his fitness to remain in the Senate -- What range of help has Al Frnken tirelessly given the DFL and its candidates before seeking to represent it in regaining the Wellstone seat -- that is all legitmate to discuss. Norm Coleman's distanced marriage, Franken's solid close marriage - that is getting remote from issues and into personal privacy and should not play any role in any bright and sane voter's decision making. "Family value" Republican mischief will be less this run, given the Franken family being the more conventionally stable of the two; and we all can be thankful that such a factor may quiet that particular idiot fringe, but aside from such a quelling effect, it is a non-issue.
The mailings will arrive.
That is how things have degenerated in recent elections. "Negative campaigning."
However, the bottom line - it will stop at the drop of a dime if it is perceived to be ineffective. It is up to voters to stop it. If voting and polling show that mailed garbage is ineffective, negative in a cost-benefit analysis vs negative in direction and hyperbole, it is history.