The tobacco-filled room

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.