VIDEO: Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette: Herman Cain ad features a smoking aide

You knew that eventually the race to the White House, or at least the race to the Republican nomination would come down to a central issue or two. Well, maybe not, but at least now people have something to talk about other than immigration and taxes.

Mark Block, chief of staff to Herman Cain has filmed a campaign ad in which he is smoking a cigarette. The ad, of course, has gone viral, and maybe that was the point all along.

There were immediately questions as to the ad’s authenticity, but those seem to have been answered. From The New York Times:

For those who doubted its authenticity, Mr. Block has weighed in with an e-mail to the CBS News senior political writer Caroline Horn: “Only comment is – I smoke. Its a choice. It’s Block being Block.”

Of course, the man currently in the White House has been known to suck a cancer stick or two, though he may have finally given that up.

Scot Kersgaard has been managing editor of a political newspaper, editor and co-owner of a ski town newspaper, executive editor of eight high-tech magazines (where he worked with current Apple CEO Tim Cook), deputy press secretary to a U.S. Senator, and an outdoors columnist at the Rocky Mountain News. He has an English degree from the University of Washington. He was awarded a fellowship to study internet journalism at the University of Maryland's Knight Center for Specialized Journalism. He was student body president in college. He spends his free time hiking and skiing.