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November 9, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/nyregion/09abort .html?em <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/nyregion/09abor t.html?em&ex=1194757200&en=8ef40f73abce6430&ei=508 7%0A> &ex=1194757200&en=8ef40f73abce6430&ei=5087%0A Bid for Stem Cell Financing Was Late and Lukewarm, Organizers Concede By RICHARD <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopi cs/people/j/richard_g_jones/index.html?inline=nyt- per> G. JONES and KAREEM <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopi cs/people/f/kareem_fahim/index.html?inline=nyt-per > FAHIM As the battle over embryonic stem <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/disease sconditionsandhealthtopics/stemcells/index.html?in line=nyt-classifier> cell research raged for two years in California, Nancy <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopi cs/people/r/nancy_reagan/index.html?inline=nyt-per > Reagan made emotional appeals in countless television commercials and Brad <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopi cs/people/p/brad_pitt/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Pitt passed the word in personal appearances, part of a well-organized $30 million campaign to persuade voters to approve the financing. In 2004, California voters overwhelmingly approved $3 billion for the largest state-run scientific research effort in the country. Three years later, organizers of a similar effort in New <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/ussta testerritoriesandpossessions/newjersey/index.html? inline=nyt-geo> Jersey mounted a tepid two-month campaign with about $600,000, seeking voter approval for a $450 million bond issue for the scientific research. A television commercial featured a rap group that last had a significant hit 25 years ago. After the last of the election results trickled in Tuesday night showing that the New Jersey initiative had failed, 53 percent to 47 percent, politicians and pollsters alike were confounded. Yet the result was little surprise to the measure's most ardent supporters, some of whom had not formed a political action committee until September. Supporters now say they were undone by assuming too much in a state that has become solidly Democratic over the last decade and by spending too little time and money trying to defeat a coalition of well-organized opponents. "We were behind the eight ball right away, and we knew we had our work cut out for us," said Russ Oster, a political consultant with New Jersey for Hope, a political action committee formed in support of the bond issue. "The right-wing groups really got a jump on this and had an instant campaign. They ran 365 days a year. We didn't have a natural campaign in place." The initiative's defeat was a blow to Gov. Jon <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopi cs/people/c/jon_s_corzine/index.html?inline=nyt-pe r> S. Corzine, who made stem cell research a key part of his campaign in 2005. The state also has recently broken ground on a $270 million research center in New Brunswick. Mr. Corzine said he expected lawmakers now to seek smaller appropriations for the research. The governor also said that despite Tuesday's result, he believed that most New Jerseyans supported the effort. "There's still a favorable view about stem cell research," Mr. Corzine told reporters Wednesday. Mr. Oster said that although polls conducted in July, shortly after Mr. Corzine signed legislation placing the measure on the ballot, showed that nearly 7 in 10 New Jersey residents supported the research, organizers in favor of the bill also noted than barely 4 in 10 supported using state money to pay for it. Opponents sensed that much in the early stages, and went after the measure's most visible supporter, Mr. Corzine, with a campaign that raised almost a half-million dollars and taunted him in a television advertisement. "It's Governor Feelsgood's Embryonic Stem Cell Elixir," a peddler said in one commercial, as a tune tinkled in the background. "Just $450 million. Why, that's practically free." The man behind the advertisement was Steven M. Lonegan, the mayor of Bogota and a former candidate for governor who has captured attention as an opponent of illegal immigration <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopi cs/subjects/i/immigration_and_refugees/index.html? inline=nyt-classifier> . His stands have brought him notice, if not always success. He lost campaigns to get a McDonald's restaurant in his town in Bergen County to remove a billboard in Spanish, and another to pass a referendum in his town making English the official language. As the state director of an organization called Americans for Prosperity, which espouses "limited government and free markets," Mr. Lonegan was prepared to fight the ballot measure. "We started a sign campaign that engaged people and gave them something to do," he said. The message on the signs was simple. It warned of higher taxes and said, "Vote No on All Ballot Measures." Before Election Day, Mr. Lonegan and thousands of volunteers distributed the signs widely across the state, while ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn