I'll never forget almost two years ago standing in Winnacunnet High School's gymnasium in Hampton — talking with people from across New Hampshire who believed in the promise of stem cell research to find cures and save lives. Many in wheelchairs, many who had lost loved ones to disease, and many who knew a cure wouldn't come in time for them but could save others wanted leadership that fought for them back in Washington.

One woman stood up, her frail body shaking, and pleaded for her government to embrace stem-cell research. It was the moral clarity of her message that will stay with me forever. "It's too late for me," she said, "but we need to do this for those who still have hope."

I have not forgotten the look in her eyes, or my promise to her and so many others.

That's why I am so troubled that the president's political adviser, Karl Rove, has announced that President Bush is threatening to use the veto pen for the first time in his presidency to strike down a stem-cell research bill that offers hope to millions of Americans suffering from devastating illnesses.

President Bush has signed 1,163 bills into law without vetoing a single one of them. A veto now would send a message to all Americans that, on crucial issues, our differences are greater than our shared convictions. It would tell the world that America no longer wants to be the country that pushes the envelope of scientific knowledge and discovery.

Congress has taken the politics out of stem-cell research. It's time the White House does, too. What a tragedy it would be if the first veto of Bush's presidency were used to make a political wedge of something that Washington and the rest of America overwhelmingly support - regardless of their political party - and a promise that offers hope to millions and could put American on the path to leading the world in the discovery of cures.

The issue of stem-cell research is deeply personal and raises profound moral questions. But people of goodwill and good sense can resolve these complex ethical issues without stopping lifesaving research. Growing numbers of conservatives have looked at the scientific facts and searched their own consciences in realizing that opposing this groundbreaking research isn't a "pro-life policy," that an ethical consensus can be found to ban human cloning while protecting stem-cell research. The House of Representatives has passed bipartisan legislation, and as early as this week the Senate is poised to pass