Trent Lott: “This morning I happened to be listening to one of the Washington, DC, all-news radio stations. There was an ad on there…”

“This morning I happened to be listening to one of the Washington, DC, all-news radio stations. There was an ad on there done by the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, speaking about the importance of tobacco cessation campaigns. Now, I wondered who paid for that, how that was being supported. Why was a Lieutenant Governor--a candidate for Governor--being used in this ad? It relates to this whole debate. I think probably the State of Maryland is paying for that campaign, or maybe it is a campaign unrelated to all this. But the point there is that there is already a lot being done, and there is going to be a lot more done in the smoking cessation campaigns by the States. Mr. President, this is a very fundamental argument. It goes to the heart of the broader question: Does the Federal Government have the great wisdom reposing here in the Secretary of HHS, or do States have a certain modicum of wisdom of their own? Frankly, I trust the Governor of Pennsylvania and the legislature in Pennsylvania. I trust the Governors of Iowa and Illinois, and the legislature in Ohio, and in my own State, to make the best decision for the people in that State.”