DALLAS – Lance Armstrong notched seven consecutive victories in the Tour de France. Last month, the former cyclist and cancer survivor won his first major political battle, when Texas voters approved a 10-year, $3 billion spending plan to fund cancer research in the state.
Two other healthcare initiatives didn’t fare as well in November balloting. In New Jersey, voters rejected a $450 million plan to fund stem cell research, and in Oregon, a plan to expand children's health insurance to an additional 114,000 by increasing the tax on cigarettes failed by a wide margin.
"From the bottom of my heart I can tell you this," Armstrong said at a victory rally after the successful vote in the Lone Star State. "I have never been prouder to call myself a Texan. We know that if we keep fighting, we can bring an end to cancer."
The measure, written in the form of a Constitutional amendment, won more than 60 percent of the vote. It authorizes the state to spend $300 million over 10 years for cancer research and prevention.
"With additional funding, we can enhance existing research efforts, lure the brightest research minds from around the world and provide grants to promising projects," said Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
New Jersey Gov. John Corzine proved less effective as an advocate for medical research. He backed a plan that would have authorized the state to borrow as much as $45 million annually for 10 years to fund stem cell research. That measure failed, with 53 percent of voters defeating the proposal.
The New Jersey proposal also had some celebrity firepower behind it; actor Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's Disease, appeared in two ads supporting stem cell research.
State officials attributed the proposal's rejection to financial problems, not ethical concerns about the research itself.
According to the Associated Press, California plans to spend $3 billion on stem cell research, Connecticut has a $100 million program and Illinois and Maryland have each made $15 million in grants to further the research.
In Oregon, tobacco companies spent an estimated $12 million to oppose Measure 50, which would have added about 85 cents to the price of a pack of cigarettes to expand a children's health insurance program. That, noted the editorial page of the The Oregonian, amounted to about $24 a vote. By contrast, supporters of the bill spent about $3 million advocating its passage.
Some 60 percent of voters cast ballots against Measure 50, which would have included the cigarette tax in the state's Constitution. Conservative opponents of the measure said taxation did not belong in that document.