Full Stop

More proof that proofreading is a political skill. In Arizona,

Early-childhood-education and health programs on next month's ballot could lose millions of dollars if a misplaced decimal point is interpreted technically.

Proposition 203 is built around an 80-cent-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes to pay for the programs. But the ballot language calls for an ".80 cent/pack" tax increase, or 1/100th of what backers say they intended. That's less than 1 cent per pack.

Backers of the First Things First campaign always have promoted it as an 80-cent-per-pack tax increase. Even opponents have agreed it calls for an 80-cent hike. Proponents say a typo is to blame.

Typo, schmypo - if it's there, it's enough to hang a lawsuit on it. One need only to look to a case in which comma placement pitted two Canadian telecom companies against each other in a lawsuit over $2.13 million (Canadian).