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THE Democratic party has come full circle on tobacco. In 1988, A1 Gore boasted that he had “raised tobacco”: “I’ve hoed it. I’ve dug in it. I’ve chopped it, I’ve shredded it, spiked it” and so on. Then he waged a ferocious anti-tobacco campaign. Now, Democrats once again view tobacco as a lucrative cash crop as trial lawyers begin investing their fees from the 1998 tobacco settlement in political campaigns.

Those legal fees are estimated at between $3 and $5 billion per year for the next 25 years. While the fees the tobacco companies will have to pay are still in arbitration in over 40 states, three years ago lawyers representing just three states—Texas, Mississippi, and Florida—were awarded $8.2 billion. These lawyers can be counted on to invest their newfound wealth in the industry that made them rich: the out-of-control system of tort litigation that underwrites, and is protected by, the Democratic party.

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Kate O'Beirne

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THE Democratic party has come full circle on tobacco. In 1988, A1 Gore boasted that he had “raised tobacco”: “I’ve hoed it. I’ve dug in it. I’ve chopped it, I’ve shredded it, spiked it” and so on. Then he waged a ferocious anti-tobacco campaign. Now, Democrats once again view tobacco as a lucrative cash crop as trial lawyers begin investing their fees from the 1998 tobacco settlement in political campaigns.

Those legal fees are estimated at between $3 and $5 billion per year for the next 25 years. While the fees the tobacco companies will have to pay are still in arbitration in over 40 states, three years ago lawyers representing just three states—Texas, Mississippi, and Florida—were awarded $8.2 billion. These lawyers can be counted on to invest their newfound wealth in the industry that made them rich: the out-of-control system of tort litigation that underwrites, and is protected by, the Democratic party.