By Miriam Raftery

June 7, 2012 (San Diego)—Proposition 29 sought to add a $1 tax onto a pack of cigarettes and other tobacco products in order to fund cancer research.  The measure appears headed for defeat,with the count currently showing 50.8% voting no.  (Some counties have not yet certified final results, which is not required until July 6.)

The tobacco industry spent a reported $65 million to defeat the measure--and appears to have got its money's worth with a spate of ads labeled as distortion by prominent newspapers statewide.