Big Tobacco Cash Floods California; Results Still 'Too Close to Call'
<div class='node-body'><p>Proponents of the $1-a-pack tax hike on cigarettes on Tuesday’s state ballot refused to concede Thursday night, saying they still hope to overcome the current 1.4% margin of defeat as elections officials tally an estimated 1 million uncounted ballots.</p>
<p>Tobacco companies worked with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to try to defeat the ballot measure. Before a $47 million ad blitz by the tobacco industry, a March 2012 poll showed that 67 percent of likely California voters supported the measure, while 30 percent did not and 3 percent were undecided.</p></div><div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-news-hp-image">
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<p><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/06/08-2" target="_blank">read more</a></p>
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