Tobacco.org

• Senate vote a sea change for tobacco 

Seven Republicans joined 52 Democrats on the 61-30 roll call to cut off debate on the measure, which authorizes the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the industry with a mandate to reduce teenage smoking by restricting advertising aimed at young audiences.

To win over hesitant Republicans on the cloture vote, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pledged that he would work to ensure that tobacco state lawmakers still have a chance this week to present their alternative regulatory scheme -- which is now technically out of order. The narrowness of Reid's margin -- a supermajority of 60 was required -- reflects the dicey politics of the Senate. But going forward, proponents of the bill are in the driver's seat, and passage is all but assured in the next few days.

Amid the greater focus on Obama's larger health care reform agenda, the FDA's new authority can get lost in the shuffle. But it reflects a sea change in tobacco politics over the past decade and is the latest in a series of incremental steps by the new White House and Democratic Congress this year that would, in another time, receive more attention.

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