“It’s a very clear issue to the pro-life community,” said Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican and a leading opponent of the research. “Is the youngest human a person or a piece of property?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/washington/16stem.html

TRANSLATION:

I really need to be a leader on a wedge issue like this to both shore up my pro-Bush bonifides and gain some traction in the evangelical community against the moderates (McCain, Giuliani, etc.).