"It is time to stop the bickering and move the tobacco fights out of the courthouse and into the street," Christine Gregoire, Washington state's attorney general, said here in announcing the plan.

At the end of the day, at least a dozen states - including Pennsylvania - already supported the deal, reached during five months of secret negotiations. The others were California, New York, Washington, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Colorado, North Carolina, Iowa, Utah, Arizona and Arkansas.

New Jersey officials indicated that they, too, intended to join in.

Leaders in remaining states have until noon Friday to decide whether to sign on to the deal. Negotiators want a majority of the 46 eligible states to go along