Label Debate Pits Big Name Vs. Big Bucks

"Supporters of a ballot measure requiring food companies to label genetically engineered foods have about $195,000 in campaign contributions and former Beatle Paul McCartney on their side," the Portland Tribune reports. "On the other hand, while the measure's opponents may lack star power, they have a whopping $5 million in hand, contributed primarily by international food and biotechnology companies intending to snuff out the movement before other states get similar ideas." McCartney taped a 30-second, pro-labeling radio spot. But that doesn't faze the anti-labeling PR coordinator Pat McCormick of Conkling, Fiskum & McCormick Inc. The Tribune reports that a new poll shows the anti-labeling campaign leading 65 percent to 27 percent, with 8 percent of those surveyed undecided. "The results were the reverse of a poll taken a month ago, just before opponents began running TV and radio ads and started a direct-mail campaign," the Tribune writes.