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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (533773)	2/1/2004 4:55:42 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

The Democratic candidates The New Hampshire primary did not offer any big surprises. After Sen. John Kerry won Iowa in a landslide and Howard Dean started to repair his damaged standing, the most riveting question of the contest was who would come in third place. This hardly makes for an exciting horse race, but the relative success of the second-place and third-place runners will prove important down the stretch. With big wins in Iowa and New Hampshire under his belt, one potential obstacle preventing Mr. Kerry from sewing up the nomination is the threat that the three plausibly competitive candidates — Mr. Dean, John Edwards and Wesley Clark — can among them deny the front-runner enough delegates to win. If the three can consistently get at least 15 percent of the vote each as they run through the states, they could force the leader into a long march that brings no clear winner to the convention. No plausible level of fund raising for any of the candidates — including Mr. Kerry — will be enough to run expensive statewide advertising in contests in places such as Arizona, Michigan, New York and California. Thus, it will be hard for any of Mr. Kerry's opponents to dramatically deflect the electorates in the coming states from their natural positions, which presumably benefits the momentum-possessing front-runner. Deciding on a nominee is not the most important issue facing Democrats. No matter who is the standard-bearer, eventually the party will have to decide on a comprehensive strategy to counter Bush administration policies. The thorniest topic will be how to handle Iraq. Thus far, the media has spared the candidates from probing questions about specific policy alternatives to the Bush agenda. But if a candidate puts himself forward to lead the country, he needs a comprehensive vision for leading the military and managing security issues. Mr. Clark, who says his experience as a field commander would make him a wise commander in chief, has promised that he would get our troops out of Iraq. To date, however, he has not elaborated on how, or what he would do to stabilize the nation in the absence of U.S. power. Mr. Kerry has had it both ways, voting for the use of force in the Senate and later distancing himself from the authorization. In the last week, he has both praised the administration for ousting Saddam Hussein and slammed it on war decision-making. Mr. Dean's antiwar position has always been straightforward. What the Democratic candidates have in common is that none has set forth what they would do to make the future more secure. Criticizing the current president is one thing, but it is not sufficient to merely say that one wouldn't have gone into Iraq in the first place. If elected, what would they do now? As the campaign unfolds, it will be necessary for the candidates to articulate how they would deal with the world if elected. Come Nov. 2, Americans will not reject Mr. Bush if the alternative lacks a viable plan for America's defense. URL:http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040128-080333-5641r.htm Sweet medicines Leading scientists believe that sugar-coated proteins (called glycoproteins) will soon assist in the treatment of everything from bacterial infections to inflammation. Pharmaceutical manufacturers have long been interested in developing therapies with sugars attached. However, cells use many different sugars, and arrays of them must be stacked in precise order and then attached to proteins in particular places to be effective. Several companies have succeeded in producing products like the antibiotic vancomycin and imiglucerase, an enzyme used in treating Gaucher's disease. Other companies have sugar-based antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and even anti-cancer therapies in development. However, the production of glycoproteins has proved difficult. They are typically made by inserting genes into mammalian cells and then collecting the products. However, that method takes weeks and only yields small amounts of impure product. The mammalian cells used in the manufacture of such medicines may also host viruses. Preventing contamination by such pathogens is not easy. Last year, a research group led by Tillman U. Gerngross announced that they had discovered a way to set up a sugar-complex assembly line in yeast. Yeast cells — which have long been used to produce products like beer and bread — are similar to human cells and so contain the basic manufacturing machinery required. However, that cellular assembly line had to be altered in several significant ways. In addition to deleting many yeast genes, the Gerngross group inserted numerous human genes and also added enzymes from several different creatures, such as rats and worms. To the surprise of almost everyone, the technique worked better than expected. The modified yeast not only survived, it also produced nearly pure glycoproteins. While several other problems must be worked out, the technique shows significant commercial potential, since it would reduce manufacturing times to days and permit industrial-scale production. The assembly-line manufacture of glycoproteins seems just the beginning. Proteins can be modified in a vast variety of other ways after being built, which significantly alters their function. Scientists are slowly learning how to mimic those changes. Policy-makers and consumers should stay tuned. Sweet medicines are not far away.