Prop 29 Supporters Concede "Narrow Defeat"
It looks like the most hotly-contested measure on California’s June Primary ballot will fall just short. Proposition 29 now trails by 27,000 votes with 110,000 left to count, and supporters are conceding defeat.
Prop 29 would have raised the tax on cigarettes by a dollar a pack and spent the money on cancer research. Beth Miller is with the No on 29 Campaign:
"As Californians took a closer look at the way this proposition was written and recognized the flaws, a slight majority of them said it's not worth taking the risk."
Supporters criticized the nearly 50 million dollar opposition campaign. Jane Warner is with the American Lung Association in California:
"It's a shame that the Big Tobacco industry can buy voters' opinions with their advertising campaign and can mislead voters. And it's a sad day for Californians."
The measure's 67-thousand vote margin on Election Night shrunk to as low as 12-thousand earlier this week. But the latest returns convinced supporters they couldn't win.
