Frist breaks ranks re: stem cell research
It also could impact Frist's own political future. A likely presidential candidate in 2008, Frist has been courting religious conservatives who helped make Bush a twice-elected president and generally consider embryonic stem cell research a moral equivalent to abortion. But the announcement, coming just a month after Frist said he did not support expanded financing "at this juncture," could help him with centrist voters.
[emphasis mine]
Watch this space... to see if any other faith-based extremism is backed away from in coming months. It may be too early to detect a trend, but one can hope.