Prop. 19 Backer Richard Lee Not Ready to Count Out Pot Legalization

By Joe Eskenazi Tue., Nov. 2 2010 at 11:59 AM

Categories: Election 2010, Marijuana

Say what you will, Richard Lee is no Joe Namath.

The New York Jets quarterback, against all odds, guaranteed a Super Bowl victory. Lee, the pot entrepreneur behind Oaksterdam University -- and the driving fiscal force behind Proposition 19 -- was decidedly noncommittal when queried about electoral success.

"Who knows? We'll find out tonight," he said.

Recent polls have shown Prop. 19's support is waning. But, then, people may not be giving their honest opinions to pollsters regarding marijuana. Lee's own polls test whether one sees the bong as half empty or half full:

"We did a side-by-side robo poll vs. a live one. And the robo showed it winning and the live didn't," he said.

Richard Lee

Lee sounded like a man ready to look for silver linings. "We're showing that we've already won this debate. If we don't have a majority now, we'll have a majority soon."

He's not ready to sift through the ashes of his campaign and determine what may have gone wrong, however. When asked to explain why Prop. 19 might fail, he curtly replied "Because not enough people voted for it."

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