California has already banned smoking almost everywhere, so it seems like getting a $1-per-pack tax would be easy enough. But it seems as if voters are saying no to Proposition 29 even though polls showed early support.
The crumbling support coincided with a barrage of opposition ads, paid for as part of a $47-million opposition campaign bankrolled by Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
The ad that caused the biggest uproar featured a Northern California doctor, draped in a white lab coat, earnestly warning viewers that the tax money would be gummed up by a new bureaucracy "run by political appointees," with not a penny going to treat cancer patients.
The American Cancer Society and cycling champ (and cancer survivor) Lance Armstrong, among the measure's biggest supporters, cried foul.
Read more about Proposition 29's near death here
