I'm not convinced a Republican candidate will voice support for marijuana legalization. The idea that the libertarian wing will raise a fuss about it is silly. How much did Ron Paul stand in support of same-sex marriage in the states that enacted it?

Unless the party changes significantly between the last election and the next, the social conservatives will have more sway than the libertarians when it comes to any question on which they can slap a morality label.

"A nascent civil war is brewing between the social conservative and the libertarian wings of the party"

This seems dubious. The alleged libertarian wing of the Republican party largely consists of social conservatives who are libertarian as far as not wanting to pay taxes and not wanting anyone to touch their guns. They are mostly gung-ho for the police state otherwise.

The civil war that is brewing is one between the above mentioned tea heads and the paleo-conservative wing who are more or less only concerned with furthering the interests of rich people.

If they really cared about those 8 conditions, they'd make them easier to achieve or entirely moot by supporting full federal legalization.

“This was a very developed policy position,” said Morgan. “It’s not like we are talking about the drone debate, where it is a developing issue. How can he just change his mind on this position because of his son, when he spent years courting social conservatives?”

This, in a nutshell, is why the conservatives of this country have gone off the rails. There is no room for position change, or policy change. He should just establish a position and stick to it the rest of his life ignoring everything else.

It is literally this argument:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vuW6tQ02…

This is a good point.

Mudede could weigh in on it, along with other African-Americans like Charlize Theron.

Let Freedom Ring!

Yeah, cautious optimism is always a good bet. At the same time, according to my calendar, Mr. Obama will be President of these United States for ... 26 more months. A lot can happen within those 26 months. For example, another state (maybe two) can legalize it as well. My guess is that California and Oregon are next. Basically, the only thing stopping those two states is a good bill -- a good example, perhaps. Well, we have two. Both Colorado and Washington will mange their legalization with ease. A little money (to pay for the state's business) and no serious problems. It will make those other states jealous. Sounds good to me (and California, and Oregon, and who knows, maybe Montana).

While Washington is important, I can't emphasize enough the importance of Colorado. Remember, if Gore had taken Colorado, then he would have become president. Let that bounce around your head for a while (no Iraq war, no enormous deficit, maybe the 9/11 attacks get thwarted). Anyway, back to reality -- the Republicans don't want to lose Colorado. Given that, and the fact that their most senior, most respected, most in power leader just said we should think about legalization, suggests that, I don't know, we should think about legalization. At the same time, there is a major division between the bat-shit crazy libertarian wing of the Republican party and the mainstream (such as it is) wing of the party. So, maybe, the mainstream will throw the libertarians a bone, and say legalization of marijuana is OK. Keep Colorado, and steal a few other states (Florida and Ohio) and then you have another four years on your hands.

If the Republicans are stupid enough to go after marijuana, fine!. Seriously, I've dreamed about legal weed for a long, long time. But if the Republicans are willing to lose an election and be on the wrong side of history (again) then great! Let them fight the good fight, while we win the actual elections. Sooner or later (as with most issues) they will figure out that they are wrong, and agree with us.