Here's an idea for Sen. Lincoln Chafee.

He should stop stalling on debating Republican primary challenger Steve Laffey, meet him face to face in the most visible TV forum the candidates can find, and make the first issue embryonic stem-cell research, a topic on which Chafee charges Laffey with hypocrisy.

The Cranston mayor repeatedly, and justifiably, has pressed for debates on a variety of fronts. Let's see Chafee call him on it -- and try to nail him in an area where he thinks Laffey is wrong and phony.

Chafee champions expanded federal funding for research on excess embryos slated for destruction at fertility clinics. Many scientists believe such research can lead to cures for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, spinal-cord injuries, diabetes, cancer and other afflictions. Polls show the cause wildly popular.

Indeed, Congress has passed such legislation, but President Bush vetoed it.

Unlike Chafee or Sen. Jack Reed, Rep. Jim Langevin, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, and Democratic Senate aspirant Sheldon Whitehouse, Laffey says he would have voted against the bill.

Aha, says Chafee, alleging hypocrisy, picturing Laffey as standing in the way of federally funded progress even as he was willing to profit personally from stock in a company working on embryonic stem-cell research.

Laffey says so what, he can invest his own money wherever he wants, and this was just that, a financial investment, and he didn't even know the company did such research, and when he found out it does he sold the stock because he doesn't think such research is going to get anywhere, and that's why he doesn't think the federal government should waste tax dollars on it.

He thinks research on adult stem cells, which can be obtained from bone marrow, is more promising. But many researchers regard the more flexible embryonic cells as having greater potential.

Laffey says his stand on funding embryonic stem-cell research is a matter of hard-nosed practicality. Despite the fact that he is conservative and Mr. Bush and many religious or political conservatives see stem-cell research as immoral, the mayor stops short of passing such judgments.

These conservatives portray embryos as society's most vulnerable members and decry their destruction. Bishop Thomas J. Tobin issued a statement applauding the president's veto and asserting, "Innocent human life should not be destroyed, even when it benefits others."

I noted to the bishop last week that these embryos would otherwise go to waste, so why not put them to some good use? He replied, "Destruction of human life is evil. . . . We need to take a higher road and understand what's at stake. You cannot tinker with human life even in its earliest stages."

He said it's of a piece with assisted suicide or abortion or capital punishment. "They are all somehow related."

In a Thursday interview with me and Providence Journal colleague Mark Arsenault, Mayor Laffey shied from religious conclusions. Laffey is Catholic, although he currently attends non-denominational services at the Cranston Christian Fellowship with his wife, Kelly, who was raised Episcopalian.

When asked if it is morally wrong to destroy embryos for stem-cell research, Laffey said, "We should always be cautious. I'll leave it to the theologians to decide."

Regarding Bishop Tobin's interjecting himself into the debate, Laffey said, "He's a very strong leader, but my bases for my decisions are made on public policy. I kind of thought this all went out in 1960 with John F. Kennedy."

For much of the conversation, Laffey was his usual glib, talk-a-mile-minute self. But at other moments it was obvious that Chafee had touched a raw nerve in saying that Laffey should explain to Rhode Islanders suffering from diseases "why he believes it is proper to personally profit by embryonic stem-cell research, but will not encourage the federal government to give funding to scientists at the forefront of this groundbreaking research."

The mayor assailed Chafee for trying to seize "the moral high ground." Laffey referred to his 83-year-old dad, John, and said:

"I just came from visiting my father in an Alzheimer's clinic. He was eating a cup of ice cream. I asked him what he had for lunch. He didn't know. He had just finished lunch."

The mayor said it is "ludicrous" for Chafee to lecture him about diseases. Later in the interview, with his 10-year-old son, Samuel, on hand, Laffey again spoke of his father's Alzeimer's:

"We all suffer because of it -- my mother, my father, me. And this kid right here doesn't have a grandfather that remembers who he is sometimes. We all suffer from it, so we all want cures for it. I've got a different way (than Chafee) of going about it, but he has no right to take the moral high authority."

It was interesting to me that Laffey was so down on the promise of embryonic stem-cell research when so many scientists are so keen on it -- and, more to the point of the politics of it, he was differing from majorities in both the Senate and House. Indeed, several conservatives, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (a doctor) and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, not to mention Nancy Reagan, are for it.

But Laffey said Congress isn't always right. For example, he said, "The majority of the Senate and House passed the transportation bill that had . . . billions of wasteful pork-barrel spending."

Laffey boasted of doing extensive reading about embryonic stem-cell research but said he had never discussed the subject with members of Rhode Island's delegation. He thought it absurd that I might be suggesting he chat with Chafee about it. But actually, I said, I thought it would be interesting for him to talk with Langevin, a leading proponent who is paralyzed from a gun accident and who believes it could lead to a cure that would enable him to walk again some day.

The mayor did not appreciate my suggestion. He said of Langevin, "He's a wonderful man. . . . He has a great personal story, but don't get on your moral high horse. Really, don't do that."

It's always interesting to discuss morality with Bishop Tobin. I asked him about a commentary on CBS last Sunday by Senator Hatch in favor of putting more federal dollars into embryonic stem-cell research. Hatch calls himself pro-life but says, "I believe being pro-life is not only caring for the unborn but also caring for the living." (Langevin, who also calls himself pro-life, takes the same view.)

Hatch likened opponents of the stem-cell legislation to the Catholic Church's persecution of Italian astronomer Galileo in the 1600s for proving the Earth revolves around the sun. "Stem-cell research promises to expand human knowledge of the body the way Galileo's vision expanded human knowledge of the universe," Hatch said.

The senator added:

"Opponents of stem-cell research are on the wrong side of history. In 1992, Pope John Paul II officially apologized for the Inquisition's treatment of Galileo. At some point in the future, when the fruits of stem-cell research bless millions, I imagine critics of this breathtaking technology will offer a similar apology.

"But victims of afflictions like spinal cord injuries and their families cannot wait 360 years for the country to move ahead with this. We need to get these tools into scientists' hands as quickly as possible."

Bishop Tobin called it "bogus" for people to liken the current controversy to what happened with Galileo centuries ago. "They have to do better than that," he said.

The bishop declared, "It would be hard to conceive the Church is wrong on this issue that involves a very essential part of human life, the natural law."

He said it's a lot different from a theory about the solar system. He said this is a moral issue. "If we're wrong on this, our commitment to human life, we're wrong on a whole bunch of things and everything's up for grabs."

Obviously, the topic of stem-cell research offers plenty to think about and talk about. And I believe Rhode Islanders would be fascinated to watch Chafee and Laffey thrash it out at length.

M. Charles Bakst is The Journal's political columnist.

mbakst@projo.com / (401) 277-7638