The Politics of Stem Cells

by DemFromCT

Is this week's stem cell vote in the Senate a 2006 Democratic wedge issue or a 2008 Republican albatross?

In recent weeks, Republican leaders in Congress have focused considerable energy on social issues — including constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage and to authorize Congress to outlaw desecration of the American flag — that play to their party's base. But the stem-cell debate has proven to be considerably more rocky terrain.

A vocal segment of the Republican base has opposed research on embryonic stem cells, the primal cells that can divide and differentiate into all other cell types, leading researchers to hope they can be used to cure a broad spectrum of maladies including Alzheimer's disease and paralysis. Polls, however, show that a majority of Americans, including some Republicans who oppose abortion rights, favor government funding of stem-cell research.

"I'm not really sure that a lot of Republicans want a vote on this right now, period," said Jennifer Duffy, an editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. "It's complicated, and its fairly untested. [The Democrats] believe this is their wedge issue ... [but] I think that we're not going to really know until [the November elections]."

One question is whether the whole vote is a Trojan Horse:

Several stem-cell advocates that spoke with the Forward said that they were cautiously optimistic about the prospects of the House bill, but said they worried that the other two bills in the package would provide political cover for Republican dissenters who want to appeal to the religious right, without alienating the wider public. They fear that Bush would take a similar approach, feeling politically confident enough to follow through on his threat to veto the House bill, because he could then sign the measure encouraging alternative stem-cell research.

"We think there will be some people telling the president, 'Look, you can just sign this decoy bill and get away with it,'" said Dan Perry of the Alliance for Aging Research. Then he would "claim that he is on the side of the angels."

However, there are many people on both sides of the aisle that would not let that go unchallenged, hence the desire of many Republicans to make the issue go away. Another piece of the puzzle is local politics (Vanderbilt hopes Frist comes through):

Vanderbilt scientists have been working with stem cells derived from mouse embryos for more than a decade in hopes of finding advanced cures for diseases such Parkinson’s and diabetes.

Two years ago, the university created the Vanderbilt Center for Stem Cell Biology (VCSCB), hoping to capitalize on the latest stem cell research techniques.

But since Bush capped the number of human embryo lines available for research, Vanderbilt scientists’ efforts have been frustrated.

In the end, Americans want this research, and viable alternatives don't currently exist. How the Republicans handle this will go a long way in convincing Americans whether or not they have ended their war on science or have simply gotten sneakier about it. And in no way does the issue go away. That's another reason for Republicans to be nervous about this fall, regardless of how badly they misread the political environment.

Comments

[DemFromCT]

The battle over the research is particularly fierce in Missouri, where Republican Senator Jim Talent is facing one of the closest races in the country. He has withstood a barrage of criticism from his likely Democratic challenger, State Auditor Claire McCaskill, over Talent's opposition to a ballot proposal on stem cells, at the same time that he is being pressed by anti-abortion and Catholic supporters to stand firm against the measure.

The proposal, which polls say is supported by Missouri voters by a margin of 2-to-1, is designed to counter repeated attempts by Republican state legislators to outlaw embryonic stem-cell research in the state. It would amend the state constitution to permit the research in accordance with federal law.

Talent announced in May that he opposed the ballot measure — which is supported by other pro-life Republicans, including Missouri Governor Matt Blunt — after months of indecision on the issue.

At the same time, on the national stage he has developed cold feet about coming out too strongly against stem-cell research; in February, Talent removed himself as co-sponsor of Brownback's stem-cell bill.

from the first link in the main post.

[emptypockets]

Bush, a year ago, on stem cells:

This policy set a clear standard: We should not use public money to support the further destruction of human life.

This, from the guy with the trillion-dollar war.

[Sara]

Stem Cell Research could easily be the key issue in turning two presently red Minnesota Districts blue in November.

The line that divides the 1st and 2nd CD's runs just north of Rochester Minnesota, Mayo Clinic Land, and virtually all the professionals at Mayo live on or around "Pill Hill" in suburban Rochester, which is in the 2nd District. The lab techs, nurses, and others tend to live in Rochester, thus in the 1st. For the Mayo crowd, being able to research and ultimately do cell therapy is a major interest, so much so that the DFL in Rochester is selling out their events, and many attending are former Republicans. The two candidates are Tom Walsh in the 1st, and Coleen Rowley in the 2nd.

The latest polls look good for the DFL -- but it is far too early to count on them. We still have a governor's primary in Sept -- but the rest of the ticket is settled.

New innovation this year -- and it includes jokes about Bush's Political Stratergery of Science as well as commentary on Stem Cells -- is the DFL traveling USO show that Al Franken has organized. He's traveling with Senate Candidate Amy Klobuchar, several other state wide candidates, the local congressional candidate, and Walter Mondale -- and the theme is exactly what is happening. Al is teaching ole Walter to be a Stand Up Norwegian Comic, (dry straight man), and Walter is using the show to teach Al a mass of practical politics stuff. They have worked out scripts that do a commentary on Bush & Company that puncture anything he has left. And they are doing this about Stem Cells. Believe me, someone needs to live blog one or several of these events. All of it is done either as rally events for Amy and the proper congressional candidate or as fund raisers. Polling has actually determined that the whole Mayo Clinic Community (which was sol

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