What we do know is what will maximize our chances of victory when we get there: Win more states — including measures on the ballot this November in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington — and continue winning over more support, growing and diversifying the national majority now confirmed in more than a dozen polls.
At press time three more states had measures on the Nov. 2 ballot that would loosen restrictions on cannabis, including an initiative in Alaska that would make it the first state to decriminalize pot altogether.
All but 15 states have enacted some form of general whistle-blowing legislation, and more than 50 state measures provide protections in specific industries or for classes of people, like children or workers exposed to hazardous substances.
Mr. Cuomo said the improvements were made possible by more state aid, cost-cutting measures adopted by the authority, and increased revenues from fares, tolls, subsidies and dedicated taxes.
Mark A. Hall, a law professor at Wake Forest University who has studied the constitutionality of mandates that people buy health insurance, said, "There is no way this challenge will succeed in court," adding that the state measures seemed more "sort of an act of defiance, a form of civil disobedience if you will".
Earlier this week, Premier Wen Jiabao said that boosting investment would also be crucial for stabilising growth, fuelling expectation that more state-driven stimulus measures would be on the way.
The Senate bill calls for a larger federal role in administering elections for federal office, while the House measure preserves more state and local control.
Each candidate supports measures to deliver more state money to the New York City school system, particularly for the construction of new schools to relieve overcrowding.
This year, Governor Jerry Brown and the California state legislature approved an interesting, if controversial, measure to direct more state funding to the schools with the most serious financial and academic challenges.
A dozen more state legislatures, including Texas, New Hampshire, and Virginia, are expected to consider similar measures in 2017.
