What are the odds last week's hurrah was heard in Harrisburg?

We may know tomorrow, when six legislators meet in the Pennsylvania Capitol to hash out differences in House and Senate bills to ban indoor smoking.

At risk is the health of nonsmokers and the right of Philadelphia to make its own laws.

You'd think the Atlantic City vote would have extinguished one of the arguments for letting people light up in Pennsylvania casinos - that gamblers who smoked would take their business to Jersey.

But listen to casino lobbyists' new tune.

They're selling this moment as an opportunity to give Pennsylvania a competitive edge over New Jersey: Puff 'n' play in Pa.

"They're already making that argument," groused State Rep. Mike Gerber, a Democrat from Montgomery County who sponsored the House ban on indoor smoking.

The Senate bill is much weaker, exempting casinos, American Legion halls, taverns. State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, a Montgomery County Republican, has introduced bills since 1993 to stamp out indoor smoking. He said he and Gerber have their work cut out for them.

Making a deal

"The casino industry has been lobbying, as well as the clubs and taverns," Greenleaf said. "That combination is difficult to overcome."

That's despite polls that increasingly show most Pennsylvanians want their public places and workplaces smoke-free - and despite the U.S. surgeon general's statement that no amount of secondhand smoke is risk-free.

"We are at the whim of the majority," Greenleaf said, and the panel's composition "was specifically set up that way." You can thank House and Senate leaders for putting people on the committee who are so sensitive to the rights of the tavern, tobacco and casino industries.

Mayor Nutter has been calling the committee members individually, hoping to persuade them to allow municipalities to set rules tougher than the state law.

Winning freedom from local laws is the priority of the tobacco industry, said Bill Godshall, a former Allegheny County health official who has lobbied for SmokeFree Pennsylvania for 22 years.

Godshall said his group was willing to back any bill that gives local governments the right to enact antismoking legislation tougher than the state's.

"I just don't understand," he said, "how any legislators get away with voting to protect an out-of-state industry that kills 20,000 Pennsylvanians a years."

A friend in New Jersey

"I'm sure I'd be a lot healthier if I weren't exposed to the smoke," said Hesse, 46, who complains of frequent sinusitis and sapped energy. "There's no way to say for sure, but how could it not be affecting me? You see what it does to the walls."

What happened in Atlantic City is part of a ripple that's rolling across the country - the world, actually, she said. If they can stop smoking in France. . .

"Hopefully, we're helping our next generation," she said. "Pennsylvania has an opportunity to step up to the plate."

Why do I get the feeling the result will land in foul territory?