The Wall Street Journal editorial today (see here) on Oregon’s spiking of the so called “healthy kids” initiative shows how Oregon voters knew what they were doing when they said “no” and how Congress–especially our Oregon delegation–should pay attention:

“Like Beltway Democrats, Governor Ted Kulongoski and his legislature wanted to broaden eligibility for Oregon’s “Healthy Kids” Schip program to 300% of the federal poverty level. They would allow all families to opt in, regardless of of income, though higher earners wouldn’t get subsidies.
“…What happened was, the tobacco industry bought the election,” Governor Kulongoski declared yesterday.
We’re surprised the Governor thinks voters in his left leaning state are so easily gulled–especially in a contest between “healthy kids” and cigarettes. More persuasive is the notion that voters didn’t want to pass a state tax increase to finance a health-care expansion that Congress might soon pass…voters understood that a tax increase on cigarettes is still a tax increase, and a highly regressive one at that.”