• The Washington Post, Tuesday, October 24, 2006 12 PM

Grim and unsteady from his battle with Parkinson's disease, actor Michael J. Fox is inserting himself the campaign for the U.S. Senate in a TV commercial about the importance of stem cell research. The latest ad, which endorses Democrat Benjamin Cardin over the GOP's Michael Steele in Maryland, is a graphic portrayal of physical degeneration with a strong political message.

"Stem cell research offers hope to millions of Americans with diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's," Fox says. "But George Bush and Michael Steele would put limits on the most promising stem cell research."

Cardin has run a series of conventional ads, but Steele's spare but upbeat spots have won praise and presented the lieutenant governor as a Washington outsider. But the Fox commercial makes those ads seem shallow by comparison, says Paul S. Herrnson, a University of Maryland political science professor. "I think it's aimed at cutting through all the platitudes that normally accompany campaigns and say, 'here's an issue that affects people's real lives.' You look at him, and you see the effects." A similar ad is being run in Missouri on behalf of Democrat Claire McCaskill.

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