Alex P. Keaton for Ben Cardin

Michael J. Fox has filmed an ad for Ben Cardin hitting Michael Steele on his opposition to stem cell research.

Cardin: I'm Ben Cardin, and I approve this message.

Michael J. Fox: Stem cell research offers hope to millions of Americans with diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

But George Bush and Michael Steele would put limits on the most promising stem cell research.

Fortunately, Marylanders have a chance to vote for Ben Cardin.

Cardin fully supports life-saving stem cell research. It's why I support Ben Cardin.

And with so much at stake, I respectfully ask you to do the same.

I can't find the You Tube of the Cardin ad, but this is a clip of a similar ad Fox filmed for the Missouri Senate race:



(The Cardin ad can be seen here.)

Some folks think Democrats need to end the love affair with stem cell research and I tend to agree to an extent. But ads like this are exactly the type that make people more aware and more emotional about the issue. Not only does this ad show every voter how debilitating diseases like Parkinson's are, it makes Steele's professional-level ads seem weak and juvenile, as also mentioned in the Post's story about the ad.

Coming, as it has, just two weeks before Election Day, the commercial could serve as Cardin's antidote to the much-discussed advertising campaign launched by Steele, political analysts said yesterday.

Whereas Cardin to this point has run a series of conventional ads, Steele's visually spare but upbeat spots have won praise for the way they have presented the lieutenant governor as a Washington outsider who pledges to address the worst from both parties.

The Fox commercial makes those ads seem shallow by comparison, said 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 says, 'Here's an issue that affects people's real lives,' " Herrnson said. "You look at him, and you see the effects."

I'll be watching to see if Steele continues to run a Dr. Phil campaign or if Cardin's substantive push forces the GOP candidate to take a more serious approach to his candidacy for U.S. Senate.

Originally posted at Outside the Beltway.