Eleanor Clift writes that Sen. Jim Talent is basically staking his political career on the stupidest stem cell theory ever, that of Hurlbut, operationalized in Nature in two articles about which we have blogged far, far too much. Mitt Romney also went gung ho for Hurlbut, who by the way is every bit as educated about politics as he is about stem cell research and ethics, and it did him no good either. The key lesson though to stem cell supporters is clear: introduce your opponents to Hurlbut.