I looked at Barone's political handbook today. I believe Talent won in 2002 by 23,000 votes. Corker, Talent and Allen must win their races. I saw couple of threads today about the Michael J. Fox stem cell ad. I would love to see a quick and forceful response by Talent.
"I support adult stem cell research. Many medical experts believe that adult stem cell research may utlmately lead to cures for crippling diseases. However the evidence on embryonic stem cell reseach is less hopeful. And as someone who believes in the sanctity of human life, we must not sacrifice life in the name of medical research."
I believe a straight forward, honest response would be well receieved by the voters.
The research...tumors accompany the use of embryonic stem cell. You'll see very very little on this.
That last sentence would get him killed with the voters. Republicans are taking a beating on this issue because both sides are framing this as religious beliefs trumping medical research. That works well for the democrats but makes the republicans look totally out of touch.
Republicans need to point out that they are only against federal funding of embryonic stem cell research - the private sector can do all the research it wants.
As more and more people are living longer lives and thus developing degenerative conditions, the stem cell issue is going to haunt republicans unless they can get out in front of it and drop the religious angle.