The Gap is Narrowing: Commentary on Prop 29

Jun 08, 2012 by Doug Ulman

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With estimates that more than one million vote-by-mail and provisional ballots remain uncounted, and now only 53,000 votes separating the yes and no side, sponsors and supporters of Prop 29 are not conceding defeat. We are closely monitoring the counting of late absentee and provisional ballots over the next days and weeks. This race is still too close to call; and Prop 29 is and has always been about saving lives and fighting and beating cancer, a terrible and unrelenting disease. With less than 1% separating defeat from victory, we remain vigilant and ever hopeful, no matter how long the odds. Frankly, our campaign of cancer survivors and their family members are used to this kind of a fight.

We’d like to share with you the following clip from MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. This piece summarizes very poignantly what we have been up against. The amount of money that Big Tobacco spent to defeat cancer research and smoking cessation in California surpassed that of major political campaigns nationwide. Although they used their deep pockets and outspent the coalition 5 to 1, we remain hopeful that the victory will ultimately be ours.