If All You Do Is Vote ...

doi:10.1126/science.1163096

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Editorial

If All You Do Is Vote …

John Edward Porter¹

Elections have a way of sorting things out. Already, the most fascinating U.S. presidential and congressional election process of my life has sorted out some things that we can celebrate. We know that the country's next president won't favor teaching intelligent design in our schools and will respect scientific integrity and evidence-based research. But we still don't know whether he will truly put science at the table--that is, whether research will be high on the president's priority list and reflected strongly in his budgets, speeches, and policies.

¹John Edward Porter is a former U.S. congressman who chaired the Appropriations subcommittee that funds all federal health programs, including NIH. He is chair of Research!America and chaired the U.S. National Academy of Sciences committee that has just published a report advising presidential candidates on science and technology appointments.^*

^*Science and Technology for America's Progress: Ensuring the Best Presidential Appointments in the New Administration, www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12481.

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