IT'S NO SURPRISE THAT MOST OF THE DOLLARS CONTRIBUTED BY TOBACCO LAWYERS WENT TO DEMOCRATS

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently detailed campaign contributions from lawyers hired by Missouri's attorney general to handle the tobacco lawsuit. It comes as no surprise that the bulk of the $559,000 given by lawyers from five firms over the past eight years went mainly to Democrats, including Attorney General Jay Nixon and Gov. Mel Carnahan.

The figures were compiled by a conservative group called Viewpoint, which continues to blast the fees -- more than $400 million -- the lawyers would have received under their original contract. But now the lawyers will get only what an arbitration panel orders the tobacco companies to cough up (no pun intended).

There's nothing new here, really. Contributors have always been generous to candidates with similar political persuasions and to officeholders who have helped boost business.

There are some who would use these findings to push for even more campaign reform. But the public's best interests have been served by the timely reporting of campaign donations, which is exactly what the Post-Dispatch did.