Schwarzenegger: 'Prop 19 Went Too Far'

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said some eye-opening things on last night's Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he famously first announced his candidacy for office in August of 2003. Now that his stint in office is about to end, he returned to the late-night talk show to address the controversial results of last Tuesday's midterm elections.

The two-term governor will step down from his position in two months, but not before he shared some opinions on the future of the administration: "It was no surprise by any means," he said of the governor race's results, in which former California governor Jerry Brown defeated former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. "But it was so extreme in many ways; extreme right, extreme left." He proceeded to emphasize the importance of politicians working together in the future.

The Republican politician, who has often been criticized by fellow party members for moving too close to the center and even bordering on the left, covered many topics, including environmental concerns, energy policies and legislation surrounding marijuana possession in the state of California.

Leno brought up the failure of Proposition 19 to pass: "Now the [proposition] to legalize marijuana — that lost," he clarified for the audience before asking Schwarzenegger, "Now you signed a bill . . . making less than an ounce pretty much like a traffic ticket." Schwarzenegger confirmed this, clarifying, "It makes it from a misdemeanor into an infraction, which is kind of like a speeding ticket. And no one cares if you smoke a joint or not," a statement which elicited some nervous laughter from the audience and more than one cheer. "But Proposition 19 went a little bit too far," he said. "And it was written badly."

He continued to defend, however, that the idea behind it was a good one. "I think it's important to know that propositions don't die because the idea is bad. It's just dies because it's written wrong." –KIMBERLY STEELE