There are plenty of voices struggling to be heard as part of the ongoing debate over stem-cell research, but there’s a great group of people have put together a new 527 organization, with the intention of making this issue a central one in the next couple of campaign cycles.
There’s a new kid on the block in the battle over embryonic stem-cell research, and it’s threatening to make the debate less about the science of the issue and more about the political ramifications for lawmakers who oppose broad federal funding of the controversial studies.
StemPAC, a group formed in May of this year but officially launched in July, is headed by John Hlinko, a Democratic political activist and founder of the “Draft Wesley Clark” presidential effort, along with a team of like-minded strategists, including media consultant Bud Jackson of the Jackson Group. Liberal Web logger Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of dailykos.com sits on its advisory board.
The group aims to be more aggressive than groups already on the landscape, officials said.
“We want to sort of be the bulldog in the yard,” said Jackson in an interview. “We want to apply political pressure. … We thought there was a vacuum out there and that there was a way to do this smarter.”
Indeed, there is. Having Nancy Reagan call Republican lawmakers is behind the scenes is helpful in pressuring those who are inclined to do the right thing, but StemPAC is poised to pack a bigger punch.
As Bill Frist’s evolving position on the issue became front-page news recently, StemPAC’s efforts good off to a surprisingly good start.
Just two weeks ago, StemPAC raised some eyebrows in DC by announcing that it would run a series of TV ads criticizing Frist for his position and his reluctance to let the Castle-DeGette legislation pass the Senate. Cognizant of Frist’s future career plans, StemPAC said the first ads were slated to run in New Hampshire.
Whether it was a coincidence of timing or not, Frist almost immediately changed course and announced, on the last day before the August recess, that he was abandoning his opposition to federally-funded stem-cell research and will oppose the president’s policy.
StemPAC’s plans, of course, go beyond just Frist.
Hlinko said the group will push to create a national grass-roots movement dedicated to pressuring wavering lawmakers to support stem-cell research on embryos from fertility clinics that would be destroyed or discarded anyway. Most anti-abortion conservatives oppose such research because they consider it the destruction of a nascent human life.
Hlinko said StemPAC will use both carrot and stick, spending most of its energy working to defeat lawmakers in the 2006 midterm elections rather than just supporting lawmakers who have voted for or back stem-cell research.
“Whoever the biggest roadblocks are, we will target them,” said Hlinko, adding that Democrats and Republicans alike could be targets.
The Republican Main Street Partnership and the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, among others, have been lobbying on the Hill on this issue, but StemPAC is adding a hardball, financial edge. The Main Street Partnership and CAMR don’t want to upset GOP leaders; StemPAC doesn’t care.
The group has already shown some fundraising prowess — StemPAC raised about $200,000 shortly after announcing their intention to air the Frist ads — and it’s not hard to imagine a series of key races where StemPAC’s efforts could make a difference. (Bud Jackson said Rick Santorum would “definitely be a target.”)
The latest Newsweek poll showed that only 31% of the country approves of the White House policy on stem-cell research. If StemPAC starts making Bush allies nervous, a veto-proof majority for Castle-DeGette doesn’t seem out of the question.