AAAS: Clinton and Obama, but no McCain
Presidential campaign season is in full fury, even among the normally politically closeted group known as scientists. This afternoon featured a late-breaking session with science advisors to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. (John McCain apparently wanted to send a rep, but couldn't do so in the short notice given to the campaigns; Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul didn't respond to their invites.)
The room was packed, and the scientists agog with excitement. It didn't take long, though, for the session to shift into typical campaign mode. First one advisor and then the other would run through the list of science- and technology-related items on their particular candidate's agenda. There was a lot of 'check out Hillary's science talk' and 'go to BarackObama.com'. Still, it was an interesting glimpse into the world of real live people who interact with the real live campaigns. (Check www.nature.com/news in a couple of days for a fuller report.)
Clinton's rep was Tom Kalil of the University of Berkeley, who worked as an advisor on science and technology issues in the administration of Bill Clinton. (See Kalil's October 2006 Nature piece, on how scientists should plan for the presidential changeover, here.) Obama's rep was Alec Ross, a technology and social entrepreneur and founder of the technology group OneEconomy. Predictably, most of the questions from the audience had to do with funding and why their particular favorite agency (pick yours: NIH, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy...) wasn't getting as much money as they thought it should.
Perhaps the most striking comment, though, came from Ross, who early on had set up Obama as the fervent opponent of all things traditionally Washington, most particularly lobbying. His advice to scientists about getting their voice heard? Get organized, find a message, and "roll your sleeves up" and get into the fray.
In a word: lobby.