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Here is a popular budget solution that nobody seems to be talking about: Raising the cigarette tax.

A new poll shows that two-thirds of North Carolinians would support raising the tax on cigarettes by $1.00 per pack to cut the state's budget deficit and to fund public health programs.

The survey, conducted for the North Carolina Alliance for Health, found that 62 percent support increasing the cigarette tax increase as a budget balancing measure but support jumps to 66 percent when some of the of the revenue is used to fund public health measures.

“At a time when North Carolina is dealing with a huge budge deficit, voters across North Carolina understand raising the tobacco tax is a smart way to tackle this problem and, more importantly, protect our kids from smoking,” said Pam Seamans, the group's executive director.

The survey of 500 registered North Carolina voters was conducted by the polling firm Public Opinion Strategies was conducted Feb. 8-10. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican from Eden, was recently asked whether he would support increases in so-called "sin" taxes. He responded that it is legal to smoke and drink and so he wouldn't want to be on record as calling them "sin" taxes.

He repeated his view that Republicans do not think the state's budget troubles are the result of too little revenue. Rather, he said, the problems are the result of too much spending, and so Republicans will look to cut rather than increase any taxes.
       

A bill that would ban the possession and use of tobacco products and cell phones in state prisons received final legislative approval today and is on its way to the governor's desk.

The prison smoking ban comes at the request of the N.C. Sheriffs' Association, which asked that a statewide smoking ban in some public areas be extended to prisons.

The cell phone component grew out of a story in The News & Observer that highlighted problems that have occurred in North Carolina and other states when inmates have used cell phones to set up attacks on each other, coordinate escapes and continue to run illegal enterprises outside of prison.

The ban passed the House on Wednesday despite objections that it was another blow to the tobacco industry, which has taken major hits this year with the statewide ban in bars and restaurants and a tax increase in the state budget.

One potential hitch in a state budget deal is the group of 12 Democratic House members who gathered after session Thursday in a windowless room in the bowels of the Legislative Building to discuss their concerns over raising beer, wine and cigarette taxes.

"What we're doing now is cutting the jugular vein" of the tobacco industry, said Rep. Nelson Cole, a Reidsville Democrat who helped organize the meeting. "They're already dying."

Democrats have a 68 to 52 majority in the House. Two members of their party voted against the House's original version of the budget, so they can't afford many more defections. Most, if not all, of the dozen potential dissidents have tobacco, beer or wine interests in their districts.

"It's jobs to us," said Cole, whose district includes a Miller brewery, noting the closing of tobacco giant Philip Morris' Cabarrus County plant this week.

Even as he praised Congress' passage of legislation allowing federal regulation of tobacco, President Obama apparently is still trying to kick the habit.

Asked about it during Friday's daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs didn't get into specifics, but suggested Obama hasn't made a clean break.

Here's a compilation of the Q&As, scattered throughout the briefing:

Q: I'm wondering if smoking continues to be a struggle for the president.

GIBBS: I think the president would likely tell you, as I think many, anybody would that has, that has smoked or been addicted to smoking that it is a — it is a lifelong struggle.

Q: Is it a daily struggle for him?

GIBBS: Well, I — since days are comprised within your lifetime, I would — I think that's covered.

Q: Do you know, does President Obama still sometimes smoke?

GIBBS: I, I, again, I would simply tell you, I think it's a, struggling with a nicotine addiction is something that happens every day.

Q: One more on smoking. During the campaign, the then-Senator Obama chewed Nicorette with some regularity. Is he still doing that?

GIBBS: I saw him chewing gum earlier today. I don't know whether, I didn't ask him...

As expected, the U.S. House of Representatives this morning strongly endorsed new, extensive legislation to regulate tobacco.

The House voted 307-97 to back a Senate version of the bill seals a legislative battle that has stretched over a decade.

The Food and Drug Administration will begin regulating tobacco products with sweeping new powers that will affect everything from cigarette content to marketing. President Barack Obama is expected to move quickly to sign it into law.

Under the bill, the addictive chemical of nicotine could be drastically reduced — though not eliminated. The FDA could alter other chemical content, potentially changing both the taste and potentially the health impacts of tobacco content.

Warnings would cover at least half of tobacco packages. Advertising would be restricted to black-and-white. No tobacco product could be marketed as "reduced risk" without extensive scientific backup.

More after the jump.

The U.S. Senate voted to give the FDA authority over tobacco.

In a 79-17 vote, the Senate approved legislation this afternoon that would put oversight of tobacco products under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan had fought the bill, offering an alternative that would create a new agency to regulate tobacco. 

The first amendment to the House tax package took out a 25-cents per pack tax on cigarettes.

Rep. R. Van Braxton, a Kinston Democrat, proposed the amendment, citing the harm to farmers and businesses associated with tobacco. The proposal would have also added a similar tax to other tobacco products such as cigars and dip.

The tobacco tax increase would have raised $195 million in its first year. The House Finance Committee voted 22 to 7 to remove the tobacco tax from the $940 million package. Before the day is over, more taxes are likely to be added or removed from the package.

The Finance Committee is in recess and is expected to resume deliberations at 1 p.m.

APPLE BITES: This week it was all about Jobs — with a lower-case and upper-case J. The same day that Gov. Beverly Perdue signed into law changes to the state's corporate taxes designed to lure Apple, the company founded by Steve Jobs announced it would build a $1 billion data center. Opponents of corporate incentives, meantime, felt more like the biblical Job, suffering yet again.

BURR'S CRUSADE: U.S. Sen. Richard Burr stood up for tobacco in the Senate. The Winston-Salem Republican spent more than four hours on the floor arguing against a bill to allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. He said it would stifle innovation in nicotine delivery systems and hurt the "gold standard" of food and drug oversight. He and Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan proposed an alternate bill.

EMPTYING HOUSE? Another state representative is leaving. Rep. Bonner Stiller, a Brunswick County Republican, will step down this month to spend more time with his family. He joins four other legislators this term who've stepped down to accept a gubernatorial appointment (Rep. Linda Coleman) or move to the state Senate (now Sen. Dan Blue) or because they died (Sen. Vernon Malone) or were under investigation (Rep. Cary Allred).

IN OTHER NEWS: An East Carolina University professor will discuss his studies of the vice presidency with Joe Biden. ... Elizabeth Edwards is not interested in running for U.S. Senate, but she will open a furniture store in Chapel Hill. ... Former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole will make her first political appearance since losing in November when she introduces one-time GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in Charlotte next week. ... Hagan ran into Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in the ladies' room at the Capitol.

A handful of North Carolina tobacco farmers put on their Sunday best this morning and traveled up to Washington with the N.C. Agribusiness Council to try to change minds in the Senate about FDA oversight.

Pender Sharp, who grows 500 acres near Wilson, N.C., said the group wants to remind senators of the families and communities behind the tobacco industry.

The Senate is debating legislation that would put oversight of tobacco products within the Food and Drug Administration. It is opposed by both Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan — but few others in the Senate.

So far, Sharp said this afternoon, the farmers aren't having much luck changing minds.

"Oh no, we'e not having that kind of impact," he said. "We just want to plant seeds in their minds as they engage in this debate. (We want to) put a face to the bill they’re voting on, and talk about the impacts in the community."

Sharp said the group has met with aides to senators from other Southern states that grow some tobacco, including Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Jim Webb of Virginia.

Previously: Sharp records robocall for Obama. 

Republican Sen. Richard Burr was back on the Senate floor this morning with his charts.

He spoke — again — about the FDA mission, about restricting tobacco companies' ability to develop less-harmful tobacco, about his doubts that FDA regulation of tobacco would do the most good in reducing levels of smoking, Barb Barrett reports.

He said he and Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, plan to offer their alternative bill tonight in the Senate. Their bill would regulate tobacco in a different agency without many of the restrictions in the underlying FDA regulation bill.

And while watching Burr on the C-SPAN2 this week, check out the ties: Yesterday, he wore green, reflecting the rows of growing tobacco so ubiquitous Down East.

Today, his tie is gold, the shade of cured brightleaf.