The smoke is clearing from the back rooms of Congress.

Sales of tobacco products have been banned in all Senate buildings, and key lawmakers say tobacco lobbyists don't come around much anymore.

That's a switch. Tobacco companies used to be one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington. Apparently the makers of cigarettes are focusing their dollars and attention elsewhere.

The new target almost certainly is young people. There would be little reason to lobby older folks, who either smoke or they don't smoke. And the thing is, smokers tend not to reach a ripe old age.

Anti-smoking advocates have cause for concern. Data collected and analyzed by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that, after a steady decline for nearly a decade, the U.S. smoking rate has been on hold at 21 percent for the past two years.

Let's see, disappearing lobbyists in Washington and a halt in the downward trend in smokers. Hmmm. Could it be that tobacco companies see an opening, and have figured out that if they divert money they once spent convincing lawmakers of the efficacy and utility of cigarettes, to advertising to lure new smokers, they might sell more cigarettes?

At the same time state funding for anti-smoking programs decreased by 20 percent, tobacco industry spending on new marketing campaigns nearly doubled, to $13 billion - and the percentage of smokers held steady.

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Another mystery solved.

November 16, 2007