Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO), who is locked in a tight re-election battle in 2006 against State Auditor Claire McCaskill, has just announced his opposition to a ballot measure that protects early stem-cell research in Missouri. This ballot is set to be voted on in November.

Talent’s stand was announced the same day that supporters of early stem-cell research turned in 288,991 signatures to place the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot. That’s nearly twice as many as were required.

In a three-sentence statement issued late Monday afternoon, Talent said, “I personally cannot support the initiative because I’ve always been opposed to human cloning and this measure would make cloning human life at the earliest stage a constitutional right.”

This is a losing issue for Sen. Talent. Missouri voters are confused on his stance on stem cell research and overwhelmingly, Americans are seeking leadership on this issue. This decision will hurt the incumbent in the polls and might even cost him the election. McCaskill is offering the leadership that Missourians and Americans are seeking.

On Monday, a spokeswoman for McCaskill contended that many Missourians had hoped that Talent would support the stem-cell initiative after dropping his backing of Brownback’s bill.

“He was against it before he was for it and now he’s against it again,” McCaskill spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh said. “Missourians are confused. Obviously, Senator Talent is confused himself because the initiative strictly prohibits human cloning.

“Senator Talent will probably change his mind again after his next poll.”