Sen. Barack Obama may be the only smoker running for president, but the occasional snapshot of him with a cigarette dangling from his mouth has not done much to endear him to the powerful tobacco lobby.
Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, received $78,656 from Big Tobacco since 2007 – more than three times Obama’s $25,745, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Comparatively speaking, though, neither man has been a major beneficiary of the industry’s largesse – at least not on the scale of, say, George W. Bush, who received $171,145 to John Kerry’s $20,000 in 2004.
One reason: both support far more regulation of the tobacco industry than the Bush administration, which has opposed efforts to give the FDA regulatory authority over tobacco, or to increase taxes on cigarettes to finance children’s health care.
The No. 1 recipient of tobacco money during the 2008 campaign to date was former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who received $108,750 during the campaign season, according to the Center for Responsive Politics
No. 2 was Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, who received $61,450; New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton got $51,300; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was No. 5 with $37,000. Obama came in sixth, followed by former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who got $9,900 and Sen. Joseph Biden, who got $4,000.
“The fact that all the remaining presidential candidates are strong supporters of giving FDA authority over tobacco distinguishes them from the current administration,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Both Obama and McCain are co-sponsors of a potentially historic piece of legislation wending its way through Congress that, if passed, would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to control nicotine levels, dictate warning labels and regulate marketing and advertising by the industry. McCain had supported an earlier, unsuccessful version several years ago.
Like Obama, McCain was once a smoker, but at the urging of his second wife, Cindy, McCain quit smoking at the time of their marriage in 1980.
Ten years ago, he took on the tobacco industry and members of his own party when he led an ultimately unsuccessful effort to give FDA authority to regulate tobacco, according to the Boston Globe’s Michael Kranish. He also supported a $1.10-per-pack tax on cigarettes to fund programs to cut underage smoking.
Those positions made him enemies: In 2000, his presidential campaign collapsed after he lost to George W. Bush in the South Carolina primary, where he faced a barrage of negative ads funded in large measure by tobacco companies and their allies, according to Media General News Service.
McCain has since modulated some of those positions, at least when it comes to boosting cigarette taxes. Last year, he sided with the Bush administration against a children’s health insurance bill that would have been funded in part by a tax hike on cigarettes. It may be significant that his senior advisor, Charles Black, once lobbied for Philip Morris (although he has not done work for the company since 2001).
“We are trying to get people not to smoke, and yet we are depending on tobacco to fund a program that’s designed for children’s health?” he said by way of explanation. “I can’t buy that.”
Obama supported children’s health insurance bill, and is also a longtime advocate of tobacco regulation despite his apparent inability to kick his own habit.
He has not, however, weighed in on the latest controversy surrounding the tobacco regulation bill involving its exemption of menthol from its proposed ban on flavored cigarettes. The menthol exemption has become politically contentious since an estimated 75 percent of black smokers choose mentholated brands (as opposed to slightly more than a quarter of white smokers).
As an Illinois state lawmaker, Obama also sponsored or voted for several bills to increase cigarette taxes, increase the age to buy cigarettes and restrict advertisements, according to a review by the University of Michigan’s Tobacco Research Network.
Tobacco contributions to presidential candidates, 2007-2008
| Rank | Candidate | Party | Amount |
| 1 | Giuliani | R | $108,750 |
| 2 | McCain | R | $78,656 |
| 3 | Dodd | D | $61,450 |
| 4 | Clinton | D | $51,300 |
| 5 | Romney | R | $37,000 |
| 6 | Obama | D | $25,745 |
| 7 | Thompson | R | $9,900 |
| 8 | Biden | D | $4,000 |
| 9 | Paul | R | $2,900 |
| 10 | Edwards | D | $2,300 |
| 11 | Richardson | D | $1,250 |
| 12 | Vilsack | D | $500 |
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