Daley now supports exemptions to sweeping smoking restrictions

Mayor Daley took sides Wednesday in the great Chicago smokingdebate: He favors a less restrictive smoking ban that would exemptwalled-off restaurant bars and taverns.

But he won't twist arms to make it happen.

"They've talked to me. I've said it's up to them. They're on bothsides. Some people want it. Some people don't. They have a right tohave positions. They have a right to do that. There's nothing wrongwith that," the mayor said.

Daley made his feelings known on City Hall's hottest topic as aparliamentary maneuver fizzled that would have brought the weaker oftwo proposed Chicago smoking bans to the City Council floor for avote.

At Wednesday's …