The Tobacco Deal -- Filtered

Joe Camel goes, but the Marlboro Man can stay: The tobacco deal is back, smaller and humbler than before. Eight state attorneys general have hammered out a deal with Big Tobacco, granting immunity from future state lawsuits in exchange for $206 billion -- and a severely lowered profile for the industry. "This plan will get Big Tobacco off the backs of our kids," said New York attorney general Dennis Vacco. Now 46 states (four have already settled) have until Friday to climb on board, but the damning with faint praise has already begun.

The line from public-health types is that it's a "positive step forward," but critics say that the only sure way to fight youth smoking is by raising prices; the current deal contains no cigarette tax provisions because it was just such a tax that doomed John McCain's $368 billion settlement deal in Congress last summer. To the industry, which has the chemical addiction of nicotine working for it, immunity comes cheap at $206 billion over 25 years -- a fact evidenced by the boost in tobacco stocks Monday. So why should the states rush to settle? Considering the dubious strength of their case against the industry, a deal the Big Five likes might still be better than no deal at all.