Stem-cell research battle emerging as key issue in Missouri's U.S. Senate race

WASHINGTON -- As debate in Missouri intensifies over a proposed ballot initiative on stem-cell research, so does the pressure on Sen. Jim Talent to step into the fray.

So far, the Missouri Republican has largely remained on the sidelines, declining to take a direct position on a constitutional amendment that would safeguard stem-cell research and treatments in the state.

The petition drive is emerging as a key political issue in this year's U.S. Senate race, and some are predicting the divisions it's causing in the Republican Party could hurt Talent's re-election chances in November.

"If Talent comes out in favor of stem-cell research, he loses support from the evangelicals," said Max Skidmore, professor of political science at University of Missouri-Kansas City. "If he opposes it, he'll lose support from the business community that otherwise might support him."

Talent, who faces a strong challenge from Democrat and Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill, has carefully couched his response so far, saying he'll make a decision after voters decide whether they want the issue on the ballot. A massive signature campaign is underway.

"I'm opposed to cloning but I support stem-cell research," Talent said. "The technology is changing all the time and so I'm always considering whether there is a better way to strike the balance."

But that answer fails to address the major issue in the debate: whether to allow scientists in the state to conduct somatic cell nuclear transfer, also known as therapeutic cloning. Pro-life groups claim the procedure destroys human life because researchers grow cells using the altered nucleus of a human egg.

Democrats have been hammering Talent over the issue for months, saying he's not bold enough to stand up to either his campaign donors or his political base. They are quick to point out that he co-sponsored a Senate bill last year that would ban all human cloning, including therapeutic cloning, and make it a crime for anyone who takes part in the process.

"He is literally tiptoeing around this issue as he travels around Missouri," said state Democratic Party spokesman Jack Cardetti.

The business and medical community, which has rallied around the measure, wants to protect the state's largest medical research institutions from repeated efforts in the state legislature to criminalize stem-cell research.

The Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, for example, has had to turn away researchers and delay plans for a major expansion. Officials are concerned scientists might one day face criminal charges for pursuing stem-cell research, said William Neaves, president and chief executive officer at Stowers.

McCaskill turned up the heat this week when she came out strongly in favor of the ballot initiative.

"Unfortunately, there are some, including Jim Talent, who believe that doctors who conduct this lifesaving research should be considered criminals and thrown in jail," she said Tuesday. "But I believe that we should be promoting hope through lifesaving research, not trying to criminalize it."

Talent may face pressure to modify his views in light of polls showing Missouri voters favor the ballot initiative by a 2-1 margin. Recent polls also show him and McCaskill in a dead heat.

"All things being equal, I think it is going to be the issue that decides the race between them because that's going to be the premier issue in November," said political scientist George Connor at Missouri State University in Springfield.

At the same time, Talent's supporters in the anti-abortion movement are demanding a strong stance against the ballot measure.

"If he doesn't take a clear position on the pro-life side, it's going to hurt him, no question about it," said Sam Lee, director of Campaign Life Missouri. "People are just not going to work for him."

Lee and other anti-abortion activists say killing the stem cell initiative is more important to them than re-electing Talent.

"This issue has been very divisive in the Republican Party," said Pam Fichter, president of Missouri Right to Life. "You can't help but extrapolate that and say it would hurt the Republican ticket at all levels."

While many Republicans in the business community are rallying behind the ballot measure, not all believe it will have a negative effect on Talent.

St. Louis businessman Sam Fox, a longtime Talent supporter, is also a passionate supporter of stem cell research and a major contributor to the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, the group leading the stem cell effort.

"If Missouri passed legislation to make it criminal for a doctor to offer to his patients anything that comes out of stem cell research in the world, that is unconscionable," Fox said.

Still, Fox said, all of his Republican friends who back stem cell research still support Jim Talent.

"The Republican Party is a big tent and you have many different views and not everyone shares the same view," Fox said.

Missouri Republican Party spokesman John Hancock said the ballot initiative will have a limited effect on the Senate race because Missourians are voting on the measure directly, not leaving it in the hands of elected officials.

"Because the voters are going to decide this issue one way or the other, I just don't think the candidates' positions are that big of a deal," Hancock said.