Actor Michael J. Fox Supports Doyle In New Ad

MADISON, Wis. -- A new television ad for Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle is the latest done by actor Michael J. Fox, who's backing candidates across the country who support embryonic stem cell research.

Fox has Parkinson's disease and has recorded other ads on behalf of candidates supporting the research. The issue might have more potency in the state because University of Wisconsin scientists have been pioneers in the field.

In the ad, Fox speaks directly into the camera, with his Parkinson tremors evident, asking voters to re-elect Doyle. Fox said that Doyle's Republican opponent, Mark Green, has stood in the way of research that could lead to cures and new jobs.

"Wisconsin holds a special place in my heart. Because it's where stem cell research was born. The cures we're looking for may come from here," Fox says in the ad. "What you decide can help millions of people ... like me, like your family."

Fox's ad supporting Doyle hits the airwaves on Wednesday.

U.S. Rep. Green, R-Wis., has voted against expanding federal funding for the research because days-old human embryos are destroyed to obtain the cells.

Local radio host Vicki McKenna talked about the ad Tuesday afternoon.

"We've now thrown it in the realm of emotions, and when Michael J. Fox comes on and says, 'You know Gov. Doyle's my guy and Mark Green's not,' I wonder if that has sway with people, because so many people don't understand this very complicated issue and they really are reacting to it," McKenna said.

But Parkinson's advocates said Fox has been key to the growing awareness of the disease.

"Michael J. Fox has helped with research and helped with funding research, which before there was that funding, but now he's really adamant about it," said Jessica Hahn, coordinator at the American Parkinson Disease Association.

But McKenna said the ads play too much to viewers' emotions.

"It takes all the rationality that needs to be in a debate, and it puts it aside, and it raises emotion, which all of us have for very sick people, and it replaces our ability to reason through a debate," McKenna said.

Conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh has commented on the ad as well, saying that Fox might "be off his medication or acting."

But the American Parkinson Disease Association said that even with medication, patients can suffer from tremors similar to Fox's in the ad.

Fox has been politically active for Democratic causes. He campaigned for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race and lobbied Congress to lift President George W. Bush's restrictions on funding for stem cell research.

Both major gubernatorial candidates have taken formal positions on stem-cell research.

Green said he plans to look invest $25 million in state funding. That money would go directly to stem-cell research through Wisconsin's WiCell.

But the funding would not support stem-cell lines that destroy human embryos.

Doyle said that using unused embryos instead of discarding them will ultimately save other lives.

He said he wants Wisconsin to be at the forefront of the research. One of the steps he has taken to do that is approving construction of the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery. The $375 million facility is a public-private partnership and a stem-cell hub at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.