The talking heads in Washington are beginning to smell a hot race in Missouri and they are talking about it on national political talk shows.
The topic most appetizing - Stem cells and the Bush veto of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
On The Chris Matthews Show, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius said the stem cell issue seems to be helping Claire McCaskill. "McCaskill seems to be making a lot of progress. This seems to be like the Terri Schiavo issue we saw earlier where the average voter looks at this and says this is about my health, this is about my parents, diseases that could be cured . . . that's the danger."
Still Ignatius pointed out, "It animates the base." Ignatius was referring to President Bush's base. But here, Bush's base is Talent's base.
NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell hinted it could help turnout among conservatives who believe the research destroys human life. "It has an impact. It's a way to energize Bush's base," Mitchell said of the veto. "That's the only conceivable reason to do this is to get people excited, the people that come out and vote about his position on this."
On PBS Washington Week, longtime political columnist David Broder, known as "The Dean" of politico writers, also talked about the stem cell issue in Missouri.
"Missouri is wide open already," Broder said. "The Republican Senator there has sort of flip-flopped and then finally come out against an initiative in the state. His Democratic challenger is saying, 'I'm all for it.' So this issue is clearly drawn in Missouri."
But Democrats tried to raise the stem cell issue in 2004 and in the end, it didn't seem to drive the concerns of voters. Will 2006 be the year of a stem cell signal or just more chatter about a supposed "wedge issue" . . . from the Chattering Class?
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