Once you get behind the bluster from the two parties, it is hard to see how tobacco will be the pivotal issue that both sides claim. Democrats say they will take the GOP House and Senate majorities to task for caving in to the tobacco companies and failing to address teenage smoking. Republicans just as vehemently argue that Democrats are at it again, trying to raise taxes so they can increase the size and spending of the federal government.
What do we know at this point? We know that the public hates tobacco companies and sees teen smoking as a big problem. In a vacuum, if nothing else is applicable, that would suggest that Republicans have a real problem, to the extent that if any candidate or party were successfully portrayed as simply a tool of tobacco interests, that candidate would have a hard time winning a competitive race.
However, we also know from polling data that even before the brunt of the tobacco industry's advertising hit, Americans were predisposed to suspect what Democrats really wanted was more tax money
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