Protest Without Having To Leave The Comfort Of Your Armchair

Top California Democrat seeks to put war in Iraq on the ballot in the state's 2008 primary election.



Reuters reports:

California's top Democratic legislator called on Thursday for voters to call for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in a ballot measure for the state's 2008 presidential primary election.

"We do not have to be on the streets of Berkeley or on the streets of Oakland," state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said. "We can now use the ballot box."
"With the possible exception of George Bush, we all know it's time to go," said Perata. "If the biggest state in the nation says 'end the war now,' maybe it will start to sink in."

During the Vietnam War, both Northern Californian cities hosted frequent anti-war demonstrations, but with students today not threatened by a draft as they were in the 1960s, the Iraq war has not sparked the same level of public response.

Polls suggest, however, that a growing percentage of the public favors an end to the U.S. involvement in Iraq.

A Field Poll report released on Thursday said disenchantment with President George W. Bush's handling of the war has pushed his approval rating among California voters to its lowest level since he assumed office and near a record low scored by President Richard Nixon in August 1974 shortly before he resigned from office in the Watergate scandal.

Perata said he would introduce his bring-the-troops-home measure on Monday. To make the ballot, the measure requires a majority vote in the state Senate and Assembly, each controlled by Democrats, and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature.

State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman said Perata should not expect Republican support. "California doesn't have any claim to establishing what the foreign policy should be for the United States," he said.

Ackerman said he expects Schwarzenegger would veto the bill: "I'd say it's dead on arrival."

Spokesman Aaron McLear said Schwarzenegger had no comment on the bill but said the governor supports a timeline for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq and "believes we need to do all we can to be successful in Iraq."

The advisory measure, mirroring a similar item passed by voters in San Francisco, comes as Bush and Democrats in Congress brace for a showdown over legislation to fund U.S. troops in Iraq.

"With the possible exception of George Bush, we all know it's time to go," said Perata. "If the biggest state in the nation says 'end the war now,' maybe it will start to sink in."