I guess I missed this topic when it was hot, but like to make some amendments to the idea that smoking bans occur only in Democratic states and/or cities. The state of Georgia recently passed a statewide ban, although I don't believe it applies to bars, at least not yet. Georgia is about as bright red of a state as there is.

As for smoking bans at the community level, it seems to hit college towns, Democrat or Republican, where city fathers increasingly believe 19-22 year-olds should be treated like 13-15 year-olds rather than adults. The expected liberal college towns of Madison, Wisconsin and Boulder, Colorado come to mind as localities that have passed bans in the last couple of years. However, the Republican-leaning college towns of Lincoln, Nebraska; Fayetteville, Arkansas; and even Lexington, Kentucky, in the heart of tobacco country, have passed smoking bans (that include bars) in the last 18 months. I expect the whole country is trending towards this unsettling assault on property rights, but at the forefront will continue to be college towns, even arch-conservatives towns like Lubbock, Texas; Stillwater, Oklahoma; and Lafayette, Louisiana, all of which I fully believe will be smoke-free in two years or less. I'm surprised some freedom-hating do-gooders in Las Vegas haven't pushed for smoking bans in that city.

Expect Republican politicians to increasingly embrace smoking ban after smoking ban (along with regressive tobacco excise taxes) because majorities of both parties' constituency foolishly support these bans. Also keep in mind that the Republican Party will always take its marching orders from the caviar class who live in gated communities, have swimming pools in their backyards, receive the vast majority of GOP-engineered tax cuts (which are then recycled back into party coffers through campaign contributions), and don't like to breathe second-hand smoke on the two Saturday nights per year that they venture into a bar. While the Republican Party has made tremendous inroads in garnering support from $9 an hour mill workers who think the Democrats are gonna steal their shotguns, this demographic's desire to smoke a cigarette at the local honkytonk on Friday night will easily lose out to the Chamber of Commerce board member's perceived entitlement to smoke-free air on demand. Those who believe otherwise are likely to be in for a rude awakening as they witness conservative Republican after conservative Republican rubber-stamp California-style smoking bans in every nook and cranny of red America in the years to come.