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(01/29/01 10:00am)
More than a year after a Penn gene therapy trial claimed the life of 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger, researchers have discovered what they believe to be the culprit.
James M. Wilson, the head of Penn's Institute for Human Gene Therapy, presented his findings at a closed-door medical conference earlier this month, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Friday.
The cause, Wilson revealed at the meeting in Utah two weeks ago, is the protein coating of a cold virus used in the experiment, which was halted after Gelsinger's death in 1999.
A team led by Wilson traced the cause of death to the coating of a virus used to deliver genes to treat Gelsinger's liver disorder, the Inquirer reported.
A protein on the surface of the virus initiated an immune reaction that ultimately led to massive organ failure. Gelsinger, who suffered from a mild inherited liver disorder, died four days later.
Some scientists at the conference applauded Wilson's efforts to help explain the tragedy.
"He did a nice piece of detective work and made an extremely important observation," Jeffery Chamberlain, a gene-therapy researcher at the University of Washington, told the Inquirer.
But Alan Milstein, attorney for the Gelsinger family, told the Inquirer that Wilson's findings only prove that the experiment should never have been performed.
"What Dr. Wilson seems to have confirmed is this clinical trial should never have been approved and started," he said.
In November, Penn settled a lawsuit filed by the Gelsinger family for an undisclosed sum.
The Food and Drug Administration recently initiated proceedings to disqualify Wilson from ever again performing human drug trials in the United States. Wilson remains the head of the IHGT.
Last May, Penn announced that the IHGT would no longer conduct human gene therapy trials.
Wilson is accused of not properly informing the FDA about the deaths of two monkeys that died after being given a drug similar to the one given to Gelsinger. FDA officials contend that had they known about the deaths, the trial would have been halted prior to the start of any human testing.
But Penn researcher Stephen Eck pointed out that while the gene treatment given to the monkeys was somewhat similar to Gelsinger's, it was nevertheless different.
"That was much ado about nothing," Eck said. "That virus made a totally different protein. I don't think it is relevant."
Today -- while controversial in light of Gelsinger's death -- the use of deactivated viruses to deliver therapeutic genes is still being pursued as a possible treatment for many disorders.
"People overlook the fact that people got a virus similar to Gelsinger, but did not die," Eck said.
Penn is currently in the process of restarting two halted gene therapy trials under sponsorship outside the IHGT.
"Out of the nine trials sponsored by the IHGT, all are inactive right now," Arthur Asbury, dean of Penn's Medical School, said. "Two are under different sponsorship and are using different [viruses]."
(01/24/01 10:00am)
In the University's ongoing search for a solution to the Health System's financial woes, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has emerged as a possible suitor.
CHOP has reportedly taken part in discussions with the special committee charged with looking at all possible options for the future of the Health System.
"Any negotiations at this point have just been preliminary," said Cynthia Atwood, a CHOP spokeswoman. She was quick to point out that, as far as she knows, "nothing has been put on the table for active consideration."
Penn officials are currently debating the future of the $1.9 billion Health System -- plans which could include selling part or all of the system. While CHOP's involvement in any potential deal remains unclear, sources say CHOP could emerge as either a buyer or as some sort of strategic partner.
The Health System has lost $330 million in the past three years, though administrators say they are confident there will be a surplus next year. Their committment to maintaining a University-owned Health System remains in question.
A high-ranking Medical School faculty member confirmed the existence of a rumor that "CHOP might be looking to buy the Health System."
The committee of Medical School faculty members and University Trustees appointed by University President Judith Rodin met Monday night in the fifth meeting since the committee's creation last month.
In an interview, Provost Robert Barchi explained that CHOP's long-standing collaboration with Penn creates a natural interest in the situation.
"We share faculty and our faculty provide the clinical services at [CHOP] and my guess is that they would be deeply interested in any motion the University of Pennsylvania Health System would make in its organization and structure," he said.
Barchi was not present at Monday's meeting, and deferred questions regarding the committee to Rodin.
Rodin, who chaired the meeting, declined to comment, as did several members of the committee. University spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman would neither confirm nor deny whether CHOP was discussed at the meeting.
"There have been a whole range of things on the table," Holtzman said. "A lot of institutions and organizations have approached the University."
Vanguard Health Systems, a for-profit organization based in Nashville, Tenn., has been mentioned in past news reports as a possible buyer of the Health System.
But since CHOP is an academic hospital, there is a strong case for the University to make a deal with a fellow teaching institution as opposed to Vanguard.
"[CHOP] brings their international reputation for clinical and research excellence," said Robert Field, Director of the Health Policy Program at the Philadelphia-based University of the Sciences.
"They have a history of working with the Medical School [and] they also bring a non-profit orientation," he added.
Field said he suspected "many of the faculty members at Penn would prefer to be associated with an academically-oriented institution rather than a for-profit one."
Officials at Vanguard declined to comment.
Linton Whitaker, chief of plastic surgery at CHOP and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, expressed strong displeasure at the possibility that a for-profit organization like Vanguard might ultimately take over the Health System.
"It would be a disaster if it was a for-profit institution," Whitaker said. "It would mean the demise of the academic center as we know it now."
The University of Pennsylvania Health System was established in 1993 with the expressed purpose of serving the academic mission of the University.
When CHOP moved from South Philadelphia several decades ago to its current location next door to HUP, the two parties developed an agreement to ensure that the hospitals would not compete. The University Medical School and CHOP currently share pediatric faculty.
A source familiar with the Health System's expansion over the past several years said it was once hoped that the academic affiliation would spill over into a provider affiliation between the two health systems, with the Penn Health System taking the lead.
The source pointed to the inclusion of CHOP physicians in the PennCare health insurance program as evidence of attempts to integrate.
But times have changed -- and experts now say CHOP is in the dominant bargaining position.
Field likened a deal between CHOP and the Health System, should it take place, to the recent mega-merger between America Online and Time Warner.
"Who would have thought five years ago that AOL would have been the one to acquire Time Warner?" he said.
Wharton professor Sean Nicholson, who specializes in health care management, emphasized that no deal can be made if the price is not right.
"Ultimately, if it happens, it boils down to what the prices are," he said.
Should a deal not take place with CHOP, Wharton professor Mark Pauly noted that a deal with a business like Vanguard would not necessarily be a bad thing.
"A good deal with a for-profit firm is better than a bad deal with a non-profit firm," he said.
(01/22/01 10:00am)
Elderly cancer patients will soon get welcome telephone calls from University students, as part of a plan developed by the Penn Cancer Center.
The Students Stay in Touch Program, which aims to match up volunteer students with patients, officially kicks off this Friday.
"For some of [the students], it's a way of giving back," said Beverly Ginsburg, executive director of the Cancer Center. "For some it's a way of being connected with the medical program" of the University.
Participating students are expected to spend at least one hour a week talking to a cancer patient. According to the framework of the program, they will call their assigned patients twice a week.
Last semester, the program operated on a trial basis. Six students participated.
"The students were fantastic," said Randi Marcus, the program's volunteer coordinator. "They were all committed to the project and they all reported back that the patients appreciated [the program]."
College sophomore Jillian Benda, who participated in the project last semester, called the program "really rewarding."
"To help someone through their illness and recovery is wonderful," she said. "It's a good feeling."
Three students, including Benda, are still in touch with their patient contacts, Marcus said.
"From where I sit, I think people are excited about it," he added.
Patients are identified through the medical staff at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Patients that volunteer meet the students one-on-one at the Cancer Center before the first phone call.
Some students volunteer because they have family members with cancer.
"When [my father] was going through [cancer], he had a support group that helped him," Benda said.
College junior Gerianne Kauffman participated in the program for credit in her anthropology class. She also characterized the project as rewarding and is still in contact with her patient.
"It made me more appreciative of life," the Spruce College House resident advisor said.
And while she recognized that "the program may not be for all people," she said the program would be an "uplifting experience" for new volunteers.
"It makes you aware of your own mortality," Kauffman added.
Marcus hopes for a large turnout at the first of three orientation sessions this Friday.
"It's just win-win," she said. "The patients benefit. The kids benefit. It's a fun project."
(01/22/01 10:00am)
Over the past three years, the University of Pennsylvania Health System has learned just how much Congress can influence the way it conducts business.
Since its inception, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 has drained close to $150 million from the Health System.
Though the act was not solely responsible for the Health System's financial woes over the past three years -- a loss that totaled more than $330 million -- it is clear that Congress' action in 1997 was a serious contributing factor.
Although recent legislation has helped the Health System regain some of its losses, University officials are now debating what to do with the financially burdensome organization.
The Balanced Budget Act rolled back reimbursements the federal government pays to academic institutions as part of Medicare.
"Most teaching hospitals rely on 50 percent of their revenue from Medicare," said Robert Field, director of the Health Policy Program at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
But according to Nancy Kane, a health care finance expert at Harvard University, the financial trouble academic hospitals find themselves in can be attributed to simple mismanagement.
"The BBA certainly didn't help, but it wasn't the main problem," Kane said.
In the early 1990s, university health systems across the country embarked on plans to expand -- acquiring private practices in order to compete effectively with health maintenance organizations. Their efforts were based upon market expectations that were never realized.
"The projections were that markets like Philadelphia would be somewhere between 80 to 90 percent capitated [by 2000]," Field said.`
Capitation refers to the most aggressive form of managed care. When a patient is in a capitated plan, the patient has little choice as to what physicians can provide health care. HMOs then have more control over how much to reimburse providers.
Expansion was seen as the ideal solution. If the Penn Health System, for instance, owned the private practices, it could competitively negotiate with HMOs over payments.
The Penn Health System includes the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, Presbyterian Medical Center and Phoenixville Hospital.
Unfortunately for the Health System, the Philadelphia market ended up far from the mark and is only about 50 percent capitated, according to Field.
"Even in markets in California that were the model [for the expectations], they're no more than 55 percent capitated," he said.
The policies pursued during the expansion period "cost a lot of money," according to Kane. The Penn Health System was one of the hardest hit.
"They're cited often as a place that just went overboard in trying to integrate," Kane said.
When the BBA was enacted, institutions such as the Health System were left with a loss they could not absorb.
"The BBA hit at a particularly bad time, just when [health systems] were most vulnerable to high start-up costs," Field said.
Consequently, organizations such as the Health System, aided by the American Association of Medical Colleges, initiated a huge lobbying effort for relief.
"For the last two years, we have been advocating to Congress that medical colleges need relief from the BBA," said Lynne Davis, director of health care legislation for the AAMC.
In 1999, Congress voted to give a proportionally small amount of relief.
According to Peter DeAngelis, Chief Financial Officer of the Health System, Penn stands to recoup 10 percent of its losses attributed to the BBA for Fiscal Year 2000. But that amount only accounts for five percent of the losses since 1998.
"Although this relief is certainly welcome, clearly we were hoping for and lobbying for more relief than this," DeAngelis said.
Congress again voted for relief last year, but the Health System still stands to lose a total of $141 million from congressional acts for the fiscal years 1998 to 2002. This picture mirrors the situation for other health systems.
"It's not enough to close the gap from what they would have gotten had the BBA never existed," said Wharton professor Mark Pauly, an expert in health care finance.
Pauly questioned whether hospital administrations will use what little relief there is wisely.
He said some systems will "use it to patch over problems with money other than solving how to live within Medicare" restraints.
"A sensible hospital administration will try to plan for [a] rainy day," Pauly added.
(01/19/01 10:00am)
The mechanisms involved in diabetes -- a disease that plagues 16 million Americans -- form a complex puzzle that has consumed the time of researchers for decades.
Mitchell Lazar, director of the Penn Diabetes Center, may have found a key to unlock a part of that puzzle.
Lazar and his team recently discovered a hormone that promotes insulin resistance, the condition that leads to type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease. Their work appeared in this month's issue of Nature.
"The cool thing for me, as an endocrinologist, is that we found it," Lazar said of the hormone, called resistin.
Since it is produced in fat cells, resistin is overly present in obese patients. According to the American Diabetic Association, 80 percent of patients with type 2 diabetes are also obese.
"In the U.S. there are a couple of parallel epidemics," Lazar said. "One is obesity, the other is diabetes."
Lazar found that resistin levels, and thus the severity of insulin resistance, are decreased by a class of diabetes drugs known as TZDs.
It was previously known that TZDs acted on fat cells, but it was not known what was the direct effect of the drugs.
"[We knew that] insulin resistance is caused by fat cells," Lazar said. "Three years ago I decided the most interesting question at the time [was] how TZDs [improved] insulin resistance."
Through a cellular signal, TZDs inhibit the production of resistin.
With this knowledge, Lazar's team moved on to the second phase of their project.
"We treated mice that had diet-induced diabetes with antibodies against resistin," Lazar explained.
Through this technique the team was able to demonstrate that resistin directly promoted type 2 diabetes.
Lazar's findings represent a revolution in the field, according to Allen Spiegel, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
"I don't think it's an exaggeration to say this is a blockbuster paper with potentially major clinical impact," Spiegel said in a statement. "In one fell swoop, Lazar and colleagues have... provided a key link between obesity and type 2 diabetes."
Spiegel's institution is the part of the National Institutes of Health that funded the research.
Ron Margolis, who oversaw Lazar's grant, stressed that the findings have particular significance for children.
"We've begun to see a fairly large increase [of type 2 diabetes] in children because of obesity," he said, explaining that children with type 2 diabetes will be a population that will benefit significantly from Lazar's study.
Despite the excitement, those involved and familiar with the research point out that there is a lot more work to be done.
"We have identified the human resistin gene, but our methods and assays are designed for mice," Lazar said. "We need to develop sensitive, specific and rapid assays for human resistin."
This is a task Lazar looks forward to taking on.
"One of the great things about Penn is access to patients," he said.
How resistin causes insulin resistance is also a question that has been left unanswered.
"One of the important discoveries that's yet to be made is the receptor for insulin," Margolis said.
Still, Lazar, while looking to the future, is satisfied with his discovery.
"Until now, no one knew about resistin," he said. "It's a new player in a field [that was] desperate for a new player."
Type 2 diabetes, which is more common in minorities, accounts for about 90 percent of diabetes in the United States.
(01/17/01 10:00am)
Even living in the high rises brings no assurance that an ambulance will take you to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Due to the growing national problem of overcrowding, emergency rooms occasionally must divert ambulances to other hospitals.
"On any given day, 10 to 15 [Philadelphia] hospitals are on divert," said Ralph Halper, regional director of Emergency Medical Services for the Philadelphia Fire Department. EMS provides ambulance service to city hospitals.
Last year, area hospitals temporarily closed their ERs for close to 20,000 hours, up from 15,300 hours in 1999.
And although the numbers may seem startling, Halper defends the system that he says insures adequate care for any emergency.
"We are always four to four-and-a-half minutes away from a hospital," he said, pointing out that, if a divert request is honored, "the next hospital, on the long end, is eight minutes from the scene."
From Boston to Las Vegas, increased demand, hospital closures and staff shortages have resulted in more ambulance diversions. Flu season also contributes to the problem during the winter months.
Hospitals must, by statute, receive any ambulance or patient at the door. EMS determines whether a patient's condition warrants overriding a divert request.
"The first thing under consideration is the welfare of the patient," Halper said.
According to Sue Canning, an emergency administrator at HUP, a hospital will only remain on divert status for four hours.
"When you reach capacity in the emergency department and you have people who need in-patient beds upstairs and the waiting room is overcrowded, [it's up to] the attending physician to decide on diversion status," she said.
For example, at 4:30 p.m. yesterday, eight Philadelphia hospitals were instructing ambulances to divert patients to other locations.
EMS medical director Crawford Mecham, who is also a Penn professor of emergency medicine, is quick to point out that diversions are part of the system.
"At any given time in the city a number of hospitals have requested diversions, [but] it's not something that has suddenly happened," the HUP physician said.
So far this month, HUP has had to divert only sparingly.
"Last week we were closed about eight hours," said Canning, citing the figure representing the total divert time for the entire month.
"A lot of other hospitals have been closed more," he added, pointing out that Presbyterian Hospital, a member of the University Health System, has had to divert more often than some other hospitals because of its smaller size.
(01/16/01 10:00am)
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is no stranger to being top of the list in the medical world.
Established in 1885, CHOP was the first hospital in the nation dedicated to the treatment of children. Now, thanks to Child magazine, it can also claim the title of the best pediatric hospital in America.
Last week, the magazine gave CHOP the top ranking from a survey of 178 hospitals that are members of the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions.
The survey -- which, according to Child Senior Editor Karen Cicero, was the first of its kind -- did not take reputation into consideration.
"This is the first instance of a survey that makes a decision based on objective measures," Cicero said.
From the 178 NACHRI member institutions, the field was narrowed down to 50 finalists who participated in the survey, which was developed by a medical advisory board of pediatricians across the country.
The survey looked at many aspects of the care provided by the hospitals, from cancer survival rates to programs for the emotional needs of patients.
"Unlike other surveys, we sought to evaluate hospitals based solely on the issues," Child Editor-in-Chief Miriam Arond said in a statement.
While CHOP is not affiliated with Penn, its close proximity to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania allows both hospitals to share staff. The pediatric department of the University's School of Medicine is based at CHOP.
"We're very pleased with [the ranking]," Interim Dean of the School of Medicine Arthur Asbury said yesterday. "That's a wonderful recognition for what we feel is an excellent pediatric institution."
The quality of health care, typified by family programs and a welcoming environment for children, has been CHOP's formula for success for many years.
"The philosophy at CHOP is that quality of care is number one," said Robert Baldassano, a gastroenterologist at CHOP who also completed his residency and fellowship there. "If you always put quality of care [first] you will eventually have what it takes to be a great institution."
While noting that she did not want to show favor, Cicero said she was overjoyed with CHOP's success.
"I'm thrilled," said Cicero, who lives about an hour and a half outside of Philadelphia. "It's nice to know, for somebody who wants kids, that there's an excellent hospital nearby."
"The residents of Philadelphia should be doing cartwheels that CHOP is in their backyard," she added.
And while Baldassano is understandably pleased that he is working at the best pediatric hospital, he hopes that Child's survey improves pediatric health care across the country.
"Hopefully, [the survey] will make [all of the] hospitals try to be better," he said.
(01/16/01 10:00am)
As students return to classes this week, Philadelphians are emerging from a particularly violent holiday season.
Although Penn witnessed a decline in crime over winter break, a mass murder and shooting struck University City and the surrounding areas.
On December 28, seven people were shot to death at an abandoned house on Lex Street, located in the Mill Creek section of West Philadelphia, northwest of the University.
Four men were arrested late last week in connection with the case and two were subsequently charged with murder.
Jermel Lewis, 23, and Sacon Youk, 19, were each charged with seven counts of murder and 10 counts of robbery, and are being held without bail.
Captain James Brady said the killing, one of the worst in Philadelphia's history and a source of national media coverage, was due to a dispute over drug prices.
According to police, Lewis and Youk, along with two others, burst into a drug house the evening of the 28th.
Two masked men ordered 10 people to hand over their possessions and lie face down on the floor. The men then sprayed the room with gunfire, resulting in the deaths of six men and one woman. Three others were injured.
Brady, who is the head of the Homicide Division, attributed the arrests to the skills of PPD detectives and the $50,000 reward that was announced on Tuesday of last week by Mayor John Street.
"The reward, on the fringes, helped," Brady said at a press conference held at Police Headquarters at 8th and Race streets on Friday. "It confirmed and reaffirmed what happened."
"It really was just a lot of good, hard investigating," he added.
Street praised the work of community activists for contributing to the apprehension of the suspects.
"We're grateful and thankful for the cooperation of the residents and the community folks in the area," he said.
And while Philadelphia police were investigating the Lex Street murders, violent crime came to University City last week.
Early last Monday morning, a cab driver was shot in the face during a holdup at 42nd and Chestnut streets.
Two men fired upon the driver as he tried to flee.
The driver, 55-year-old Glenn Falso, drove one block to the University of Pennsylvania Police Department after being hit in the cheek. He was treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and released the same day.
Based on the driver's description of the two assailants, UPPD officers apprehended Anthony Rhem, 22, and Coles Abdulwaili, 20 -- both unaffiliated with the University -- later that day.
Despite the shooting, University Police are pleased with the overall decrease in crime during the break.
For the week of December 25 to January 1, only seven incidents were reported in the UPPD patrol area, which is down from 17 incidents the same week last year.
"I've never seen anything like it," UPPD Detective Samuel Singer said.
The jurisdiction of University Police spans the area between Market Street and Baltimore Avenue and between the Schuylkill River and 43rd Street.
The majority of crimes during the break were thefts.
A University student's 1993 Honda Accord was reported stolen sometime between the evening of December 15 and the morning of December 18.
Five retail thefts -- two at the Barnes & Noble University Bookstore at 3601 Walnut Street and three at Urban Outfitters at 110 S. 36th Street -- were reported.
In every case but one, juveniles unaffiliated with the University were reported as stealing the merchandise.
An undergraduate student was reported to have stolen a sweater of a value greater than $50 from Urban Outfitters on December 22. The student was arrested.
(12/14/00 10:00am)
In a move described by some as "the death penalty" for scientists, the Food and Drug Administration has begun proceedings to bar Penn researcher James M. Wilson from ever again testing experimental drugs on humans in the United States.
A November 30 letter sent by the FDA to Wilson, the director of Penn's Institute for Human Gene Therapy, charged that the scientist "repeatedly or deliberately [violated] regulations governing the proper conduct of clinical studies."
Wilson has until December 30 to draft a response to to the charges.
Wilson and the University have been the topic of nationwide medical debate since the September 1999 death of 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger in a gene therapy clinical study. Four months later, the FDA halted all human gene therapy research at Penn, citing multiple violations of federal research regulations.
Last month, a civil lawsuit filed by the Gelsinger family against Wilson, Penn and several other scientists and institutions involved in the Gelsinger study was settled for an undisclosed sum.
The FDA now "proposes that [Wilson] be disqualified as a clinical investigator."
Prior to the Gelsinger controversy, Wilson was one of the most respected gene therapy researchers in the nation.
Jeffrey Kahn, program director at the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics, described the proceedings as the "death penalty, of sorts, for researchers."
"It certainly does not bode well for his career," Kahn said. "Sometimes there will be penalties imposed for the misuse of funds or the falsification of data, but to disqualify someone from research is very severe."
The process for disqualifying a researcher has been initiated only a dozen times in three years. The rarity of the proceedings has taken many, especially Gelsinger's father, by surprise.
"It's never been my intention for somebody's career to be ruined," Paul Gelsinger said. He said that the FDA is attempting to "push more of the heat toward Wilson."
"Jim Wilson is their scapegoat," Gelsinger said, contending that the FDA had enough information prior to his son's death to stop the IHGT study. "They've hinted at it to me, but they won't say it publicly."
The official FDA position, according to spokeswoman Lenore Gelb, is that the agency has done what it is supposed to do.
"We take the violations of federal laws very seriously and the actions we have taken are evidence of that," Gelb said.
Should the FDA follow through with Wilson's disqualification, it likely would have little actual effect on his work at Penn. Already facing the FDA ban on human trials, Penn restructured the IHGT last spring to prevent it from experimenting on humans.
Officials at Penn are remaining tight-lipped regarding the latest FDA proceedings.
"This is obviously a very serious matter, and we know that Dr. Wilson understands its importance, is reviewing the letter carefully and intends to respond in a timely way," read a University statement released Monday.
In an interview yesterday, University President Judith Rodin said Penn is waiting for the FDA proceedings to end before deciding upon its next course of action.
"Penn of course will, as we have been all along, continue to see this process to the end and then draw our own conclusions once this process has reached a conclusion," Rodin said.
In its letter to Wilson, the FDA concluded that Wilson "failed to adequately protect the safety and welfare of subjects" and that he "submitted misleading and inaccurate statements" to Penn's review board.
Among other charges, the FDA alleged that Gelsinger was enrolled in the study despite medical test results indicating his ineligibility.
Wilson has also been accused of financial improprieties, stemming from his relationship with Genovo, a research company that would have profited from the success of the Gelsinger trial and related studies.
If Wilson were to leave Penn, the ban on human research would have a much deeper impact on his work at other institutions.
"If that gets taken away, you're pretty well stuck," said Dorothy Nelkin, a New York University professor who has written two books on public perception of medicine.
Some claim that the aftermath of the entire Wilson fiasco may involve an overhaul of the way research is conducted in this country.
"We ought to think about what's going on for all research," Kahn said. "There should be strict regulations."
On Tuesday, the National Institute of Health recommended changing the rules that govern the reporting of "adverse events," such as the death of Gelsinger. The proposal would make NIH regulations more in line with those of the FDA.
(12/12/00 10:00am)
In a move described as "the death penalty" for scientists, the Food and Drug Administration has begun proceedings to bar Penn scientist James M. Wilson from ever again testing experimental drugs in the United States.
A letter sent by the FDA to Wilson, the director of Penn's Institute for Human Gene Therapy, on November 30 charged that the scientist "repeatedly or deliberately" violated regulations governing the proper conduct of clinical studies.
Wilson and the University have been the topic of nationwide medical debate since the September 1999 death of 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger in a gene therapy clinical study. Four months later, the FDA halted all human gene therapy research at Penn, citing multiple violations of federal research regulations.
The process for disqualifying a researcher has been initiated only a dozen times in the past three years. Wilson, who until Gelsinger's death was considered perhaps the most promising gene therapy researcher in the country, has until December 30 to draft a response to the FDA letter.
Last month, a civil lawsuit filed by the Gelsinger family against Wilson, Penn and several other scientists and institutions involved in the Gelsinger study was settled for an undisclosed amount of money.
Jeffrey Kahn, a bioethics expert at the University of Minnesota, described t he proceedings as the "death penalty, of sorts, for researchers."
"It certainly does not bode well for his career," Kahn said. "Sometimes there will be penalties imposed for the misuse of funds or the falsification of data, but to disqualify someone from research is very severe."
Two "warning" letters were also sent to Wilson's collaborators, Steven Raper of Penn and Mark Batshaw of Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Batshaw is also chair of the pediatrics department at the George Washington University School of Medicine.
Penn officials are remaining tight-lipped about the letter, the latest in a string of stinging rebukes the FDA has sent to Wilson.
"This is obviously a very serious matter, and we know that Dr. Wilson understands its importance, is reviewing the letter carefully and intends to respond in a timely way," read a statement issued by Penn on Monday.
In its letter to Wilson, the FDA concluded that he "failed to adequately protect the safety and welfare of subjects" and that he "submitted misleading and inaccurate statements" to Penn'ss institutional review board. Among other charges, the FDA alleged that Gelsinger was enrolled in the study despite medical test results indicating his ineligibility.
If Wilson's response to the FDA is not satisfactory in the agency's eyes, Wilson's ability to test experimental drugs will be revoked.
"If that gets taken away, you're pretty well stuck," said Dorothy Nelkin, a New York University professor who has written two books on public perception of medicine.
Some claim that the aftermath of the entire Wilson fiasco may involve an overhaul of the way gene therapy research is conducted in this country, and indeed, it has provoked an immense amount of soul searching in the scientific community over the past 15 months.
"Gelsinger's death very clearly had an effect on slowing down the process, if not stopping it altogether for a while," Kahn said. "We ought to think about what's going of for all research. There should be strict regulations."
In an interview Tuesday night, Jesse Gelsinger's father said he wants the medical research system, which he sees as corrupt and beholden to industry interests, to reform itself.
"There's a lot of money pushing all the buttons," Paul Gelsinger said. "All I've ever wanted is the truth."
(12/05/00 10:00am)
Last Wednesday, some of Penn's best and brightest were practically accused by their professor of cheating on a weekly assignment by showing "too much camaraderie on quizzes."
Ironically, this occurred in the most competitive class at Penn.
Professor Herbert Levine scolded his anxious Microeconomics class for their alleged behavior concerning the Internet quizzes he had given.
But in a class that has been described by many as "cutthroat," why would students dare help each other on tests?
"Because we're all in it together," Wharton freshman Chris Dougherty explained. "Everyone wants to help each other."
But based on the war stories told regarding this entry-level course, Dougherty may have to fend for himself now that the final is around the corner.
(12/01/00 10:00am)
Not since the famous flight of the white Bronco of 1994 have so many Americans tuned in to watch a vehicle travel down the highway.
But yesterday's voyage of a yellow U-Haul from Palm Beach County to Tallahassee in Florida did not revolve around a fleeing murder suspect.
Traveling in the truck was not O.J. Simpson, but hundreds of thousands of ballots -- dimpled chads and all -- upon which the fate of the presidential candidates may rest.
"I don't know if it compares to the white Bronco, but it sure is funny," said John Harvey, 37, of Tallahassee as he watched the truck back up into a courthouse garage.
The transfer of the hotly contested ballots is just another scene in the unfolding saga of a presidential election held over three weeks ago.
A president-elect has still not been determined -- despite recount upon recount and a certification by Katherine Harris, secretary of state of Florida -- and today the U.S. Supreme Court becomes the next actor to enter the drama.
The Republican campaign of Texas Gov. George W. Bush is charging that the rulings of the Florida Supreme Court to extend the deadline imposed by Harris, a Bush ally, were unconstitutional.
Vice President Al Gore, on the other hand, is operating on the assumption that if all the votes in Florida were counted correctly, he would end up the victor.
And the Gore campaign has submitted new cases to the Florida Supreme Court.
"No legal judgement can correct any error found after the electoral votes are cast," a Gore campaign appeal said. "Only the judgment of history will be left to be rendered on a system that was unable or unwilling to ascertain the will of the voters."
Some decision must be reached by December 12, when the state of Florida -- in whose hands the presidency rests -- must choose its 25 electors.
Frustrated with the prospect that legal battles may prevent Florida from getting represented in the Electoral College, the Florida Legislature has begun a process that may supercede any challenges to the November 7 vote.
The Bush campaign feels the move is necessary.
"In the majority of American minds Gov. Bush has won this election," Bush spokesman Ken Lisaius said. "They expect and deserve some finality in this process."
The Gore campaign, on the other hand, takes a defensive position against the Republican majority of the Florida Statehouse.
"It threatens to put us into a constitutional crisis," Gore running mate Joe Lieberman said.
"What they're moving to do is to disenfranchise every voter," Gore spokeswoman Liz Lubow said. "Their actions are blatantly partisan."
One concern of many is that the partisan struggling this contest has engendered may inhibit the governing abilities of the future president, whomever he may be.
For their part, the Bush campaign is confident they can move forward should the election come out in their favor.
"The whole campaign was based upon bringing people together," Lisaius said. "Gov. Bush looks forward to working with members of both parties."
While the legal positioning continued in Florida, Gore has been concentrating on his vice presidential duties. He has been planning for his possible presidency albeit much less in the public eye than his opponent.
Bush, too, was yesterday preparing for a possible transition from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, three hours from Austin.
Colin Powell -- a possible secretary of state in a Bush administration -- joined the governor and to discuss international affairs and national security.
"We're open for business," Bush asserted.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
(11/28/00 10:00am)
It's been three weeks, and -- to the dismay of some Penn students -- the presidential election is far from over.
After several recounts, court cases and numerous speeches, the country is still without an official president-elect.
Some students, like many citizens across the United States, have had enough of pregnant chads and butterfly ballots. Depending on whom you ask, certainty of a winner was either determined Sunday night or was cast further in doubt.
"Even though everyone's sick of hearing about it, they shouldn't rest until we can be relatively certain of a real winner," College senior Cara Kearney said.
Texas Gov. George W. Bush would have you believe that Florida's 25 electoral votes, now certified by Secretary of State Katherine Harris, guarantee that he will be the 43rd president.
Vice President Al Gore, on the other hand, points to the courts, indicating that the battle for the White House is far from over. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments over the manual recount in Miami-Dade County, Fla., on Friday.
"I say [Gore and his supporters] should take as long as they need until December 12," when Florida must by law officially select its presidential electors, said Kearney, a Gore voter.
But some say that the election question has gone on long enough and that it's time for Gore to pack it up and call it quits.
"Gore tries too hard," College junior Brian Zhong said. "He should be more like a man."
Zhong contends that Gore should just concede and then run again in 2004.
"To himself, [challenging the results] might be the right thing to do, but this is too aggressive," he said.
Bush voters couldn't agree more.
"[Gore's] going to lose a lot of support, even from Democrats," said College junior Eric Weingart, who voted for Bush. "The sense of the public is that it's gone on long enough."
Even some Gore supporters say the vice president should concede before he loses not only the presidential race but the vital race for public opinion, as well.
"What's fair is fair," College junior Christine Page said. "What came out is that Bush won."
Page, who voted for Gore, pointed out that he could end up losing in the long run if he defeats Bush.
"If, for some reason, he becomes president, he'll have [public opinion] to deal with," she said.
But Gore, and many of his supporters, maintain that truth is on their side.
"Unless you're in denial, you have to admit that Gore was the intended winner," Wharton sophomore Madhan Gounder said, contending that the Texas governor "won by a technicality."
"If anyone should withdraw, it should be Bush," said Gounder.
Still, Bush supporters feel they backed a winner and cite the vote in Florida, where the official Bush lead now stands at 537 votes.
"It's not really a question of time, it's a matter of accuracy," Weingart said. "[Recounts leave] more room for fraud."
(11/17/00 10:00am)
According to Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph Lieberman, the drawn-out legal battle over the presidential election is "the American way."
Penn students tend to disagree.
Campus supporters of both George W. Bush and Al Gore want the election deadlock to end and a winner declared, but odds of a quick resolution continue to decrease.
Yesterday's Florida Supreme Court decision allowed for the controversial manual recounts of the state's ballots to continue, though leaving open the possibility that the state's votes could be certified without using the new numbers.
College sophomore Aqsa Khan, who voted for Gore, contends that Bush's campaign caused the stalemate, since the Republicans were the first to go to court over the recounts.
"I think it's being dragged on because people are trying to protest [the election process]," Khan said.
But Bush supporters blame the recent events on Gore, saying that the vice president should concede. The latest official results in Florida -- where some counties have had as many as four machine recounts -- put Bush ahead of Gore by 300 votes. The vice president is leading the national popular vote by about 200,000 votes.
"Bush has won four times already," College junior Andrew Hendler said. "It's in Al Gore's best interest to concede."
Some contest that Florida's 25 electoral votes -- which will determine the election -- are tainted and uncertain.
Lieberman warned yesterday that if a just conclusion is not reached, "this country will go into the new century divided, with a president who does not have the legitimacy of support."
But Bush voters doubt that the Texas governor, should he be certified the winner, will have trouble leading the nation. They predict that if Bush wins, his early days in the White House will set the tone for his presidency.
"What happens in the first 100 days in office is going to determine the success of his administration," Hendler said.
However, some Penn students feel the country will be better served by ensuring the accuracy of votes.
"I honestly really don't care [how long this takes], as long as we get a result that most of the people in the U.S. trust," said College sophomore Hannah Chervitz, a Gore voter. "Confidence is more important than timeliness."
Still, many Penn students, like most Americans, want the process to end quickly.
A recent national poll showed that seven out of 10 respondents believe a winner should be declared once Florida's overseas ballots -- which will be accepted until midnight tonight -- are counted.
Meanwhile, Penn students from other countries are baffled at an electoral process some see as antiquated and in dire need of reform.
"It's ridiculous and absurd the way they're filing lawsuits and making a big deal about Florida," said College junior Elena Fortes, a Mexican citizen.
But a resolution is farther away than originally hoped.
"Our opponents on the other side are trying to prolong this as much as possible," Bush running mate Dick Cheney said on Fox News yesterday.
But Gore campaign chairman William Daley responded that the Florida recounts are legally valid.
"The Florida Supreme Court has spoken; the counts can continue," Daley said.
But despite the court ruling, some are beginning to feel that enough is enough. College sophomore Sarah Galbally, who voted for Gore, summed up a lot of people's feelings:
"It's getting kind of annoying."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
(11/10/00 10:00am)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The limousines have left, Vice President Al Gore has gone home to his farm and Sen. Joseph Lieberman is back in Washington. Staffers have packed up and volunteers have driven off into the sunset.
But it isn't over yet, not by a long shot.
"We're going to win!" read signs posted on computer terminals at the Gore headquarters here.
Sure, the election is theoretically over and things are being taken down.
Workers yesterday were dismantling the stage, from which Gore was supposed to claim victory or defeat, amid pouring rain as Gore staffers scrambled to move their makeshift press office at the Nashville downtown Sheraton.
"They did some strike this morning," Han Henze, a worker with the local electric company, said Wednesday. "The electronic stuff will have to come down tonight."
But the Gore campaign has kicked into overdrive.
While volunteers and staffers alike here were in a state of disbelief early Wednesday morning, Gore supporters are now as determined as ever in their quest for the White House, as the vote in Florida is recounted, debated and litigated.
"It was elated at first and then just very resigned," David Roeske, a 19-year-old intern with the campaign from Pacific Union College in California, said of the mood when the networks gave Texas Gov. George W. Bush the election late Tuesday night. "Toward the end, it was depressing with a faint glimmer of hope."
That passive hope has been transformed into an active full-court press.
The Gore campaign has sent scores of lawyers into Florida to begin the long process of officially determining who won Florida's crucial 25 electoral votes.
"We're excited that he won the popular vote," Democratic National Committee spokesman Jamal Simmons said. "We want to make sure there are no mistakes."
And while voters have taken to the streets in Palm Beach County, Fla., to protest a confusing ballot, Gore-Lieberman signs have remained in local shop windows.
The people of Nashville -- the majority of them are Gore supporters -- are refusing to give up hope.
"I'm just really excited," said Jessica Pitt, a sophomore from Austin Peay State University in nearby Clarksville. "This is my first time voting."
The people here are relatively upbeat.
"This has been an exciting 12 hours," Gore campaign chairman Bill Daley said Wednesday.
"We ran a great campaign," Gore campaign manager Donna Brazille said. "We had a great staff and great volunteers and I am proud of them today."
Many expressed excitement that they were on the brink of history.
And people who were once crying are now smiling.
Despite the chaos in Florida, eyes are still on this small capital in the middle of Tennessee.
The television crews from the major networks remain and the hotel rooms remain booked.
"Business has been great," a doorman at a local hotel said.
(11/09/00 10:00am)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- If there is one message that can be gleaned from the numerous speeches here yesterday, it is this -- Al Gore will not go quietly into the night.
"There's no question he is ahead in the popular vote and in the Electoral College," Gore campaign chairman Bill Daley said yesterday. "This is the beginning of the process, not the end of the process."
Daley's talk leaves an air of suspicion that when the results of the recount are announced as early as this afternoon, and even though Republican George W. Bush is expected to hold on to his slim lead, the entire process will be far from finished.
"We have very serious questions about the votes in Florida," Gore spokeswoman Kym Spell said. "The [Democratic National Committee] is prepared to [offer a legal challenge]."
Gore now appears to be the winner of the popular vote, meaning he could be the fourth man in American history to win the popular vote but lose the presidency.
Calling this an ''extraordinary moment in our democracy,'' Gore noted in brief remarks to the press yesterday that the Constitution awards the presidency to the Electoral College winner, not necessarily the leading vote-getter.
''We are now, as we have been from the moment of our founding, a nation built on the rule of law,'' Gore said, standing with running mate Joseph Lieberman and in front of an American flag.
But the vice president's aides were privately making the case that Gore's popular-vote lead gives him standing to contest the recount if state officials overlook voting irregularities. As Democrats searched for potential ballot abuses and questioned the motives of Florida's GOP secretary of state, Gore's staff said a legal challenge was a possibility.
So two options are left for Gore, should Bush win Florida.
First, Gore could concede the race if the recount comes back tomorrow in favor of Bush.
As Gore said yesterday afternoon, "Let me make my own resolve clear: No matter the outcome, America will make the transition to a new administration with dignity, with full respect for the freely expressed will of the people and with pride in the democracy we are privileged to share."
But Gore's concession may be an unlikely scenario given the question of voter confusion in Palm Beach County.
In the heavily Democratic area, ballot confusion may have led a few thousand voters to mistakenly vote for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan when they meant to vote for the vice president.
Those voters could be the difference between Gore's victory and defeat.
So the most likely option for Gore would be to challenge the results in south Florida, a process that could take days, if not weeks, to produce an outcome.
"I can't say with certainty when this will be over," Daley said. "[The recount] is just the first step."
"We want to make sure there are no mistakes," DNC spokesman Jamal Simmons added.
So Christopher and Daley are in Florida monitoring the recount along with 70 volunteers sent by the DNC.
''We don't think we're on the edge of a constitutional crisis and we don't intend to try to provoke a constitutional crisis,'' said Warren Christopher, the former secretary of state whom Gore asked to represent his interests in Florida. Playing a similar role for Bush is James Baker, a former secretary of state for Bush's father.
Although the large stage in Nashville where supporters were hoping Gore's victory speech would be delivered is being dismantled, the mood here is one of cautious optimism.
"I'm not getting my hopes up from the recount," said David Roeske, an intern with the Gore campaign from Pacific Union College in California. "This is a weird course of events."
So the fight lives on.
"This race is still too close to call," Daley said. "Until the results in Florida become official, our campaign continues."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(11/08/00 10:00am)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Massive crowds roared "recount, we want Gore," in Nashville last night, as the election result was deemed too close to call.
A crowd that sobbed over defeat just moments before cheered with hope when supporters learned Al Gore still had a chance. And just as the vice president stalled in his limousine, refusing to speak before learning the numbers, the crowd remained steadfast into the early hours.
Gore had called Bush to congratulate him and was scheduled to make a concession speech sometime after the Republican was declared the winner at 2:17 a.m. But after hearing the razor-thin margins, he retracted the partial concession.
As of 4 a.m. this morning, the Associated Press had not yet called the race, saying that it hinged on still uncounted and likely Democratic votes in Florida.
If the margin is within .5 percent the state will have to do a recount.
The Gore supporters were flung into an emotional headspin all night. This roller-coaster feeling was fueled in part by TV networks giving the lead in Electoral College votes to George W. Bush one minute, and Gore the next.
When the state of Florida was given to Gore at 8 p.m., cheers reverberated throughout the Sheraton in downtown Nashville where the majority of Gore's campaign staff had rooms.
But when the race in Florida was suddenly declared too close to call at 9:55 p.m., an icy chill blew through the crowd. And at 2 a.m., the state was called for Bush -- only to be retracted again about 90 minutes later.
The flip-flopping of the crucial state's 25 electoral votes enveloped the crowd in uncertainty.
And the flux in Florida hung over the entire night, with no resolution in the early hours.
Concern initially struck the supporters at the War Memorial Plaza when the first states -- Kentucky and Indiana -- fell to Bush at 6 p.m., causing Gore to begin the evening trailing his Republican opponent by 20 electoral votes.
Then the re-labeling of Florida set a somber mood that was carried all the way until the likely victor was announced after 2 a.m.
"It's getting tenser and tenser," Gore volunteer David A. Mynatt, 50, said hours before Bush's win.
The atmosphere was punctuated only by Gore's expected pick-up of electorally rich California at 10 p.m. When 53-electoral vote California was conquered, a tremendous roar rose up through the hotel and the crowd outside.
Still, exasperated staff members and volunteers clustered around television sets throughout the hotel, hoping for word about Florida, the state which held the election in the balance.
"It's 1960 all over again," 64-year-old David Ragosin, a Gore volunteer from Nashville, said.
When it became obvious at midnight that a Bush win in Florida would give the White House to the Republicans -- Bush had 246 electoral votes versus Gore's 242 -- the music stopped at the election night party and the monitors switched to CNN instead.
The silence of the crowd was thick, as CNN's election analysis received everyone's full attention -- with cheers emerging only when Gore's lead in Iowa became apparent.
And when Florida seemed to fall at 2:17 a.m. most of those supporting Gore cried.
"I thought it was a travesty," Gore supporter Jan Koplon, 40, said. "I [am] very saddened by Gore's losing tonight."
But when the the race was thrown once again into limbo, the crowd rallied.
Gore was fighting to the end, without sleep for over 40 hours. He made last-minute phone calls to radio stations while Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Gore's running mate, called voters.
(11/07/00 10:00am)
This is it.
For the past year, George W. Bush and Al Gore have invaded your TV, your mailbox, your conversations. They have racked up thousands of air miles, led countless rallies and faced off in debates.
And when the polls close and the numbers are tallied tonight, one of them will get ready to assume the most powerful position in the world.
Yet even though the winner will be announced in less than 12 hours, just who that person will be is still uncertain.
In one of the closest presidential races Americans have seen in the last century, Bush and Gore are virtually neck and neck in the polls, making every vote -- especially those in big swing states like Pennsylvania -- count.
Both Democrats and Republicans are at arms to make sure their candidate and their parties come out on top, especially in an election where control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives is up for grabs.
In addition, the next president may have the opportunity to appoint as many as three justices to the Supreme Court -- a possibility that has pro-life and pro-choice supporters in a frenzy.
With all that is at stake, voters today will be deciding much more than just Bush or Gore.
Yet it's quite possible that a majority of Americans won't be voting today. Turnout has been decreasing steadily every year, particularly among younger voters, and experts say that this year voter turnout may not even reach 50 percent.
And experts have pointed to Pennsylvania as one of the key swing states that could be the determinant in the election.
The latest polls show that Bush and Gore are almost even in the race for the state's 23 electoral votes -- a tie that has led both candidates to spend a good part of their final campaign days stumping in Pennsylvania.
Each candidate has, more or less, concentrated not only on specifics of policy, but wrapped up the election in terms of philosophical differences.
"Gov. Bush trusts the people," Bush spokesman Ken Lisaius said, charging that Gore is of the "philosophy that Washington knows best."
Gore, on the other hand, has said differences in economic philosophy separate the two.
"We face a choice as fundamental as prosperity itself," Gore said in Scranton, Pa., last week, charging that under his leadership the economy would continue to grow, but that the election of Bush would lead to selective tax cuts and a busted budget.
Though the candidates are similar in many respects, they have differentiated themselves on several key issues.
For Social Security, Gore has called for putting the program's funds in a "lockbox," forbidding any of the funds from being used for anything other than Social Security.
Bush favors providing $1 trillion -- the money would come from the projected $2.4 trillion surplus over the next 10 years -- to younger workers to privately invest in interest deferred accounts. He also advocates a $1 trillion across-the-board tax cut.
In the area of affirmative action, Bush has come out staunchly opposed to quotas and advocates need-based, rather than race-based, aid. Gore, who has been backed by the NAACP, supports affirmative action as it currently stands and does not think any reductions in programming need to be made.
Gore is against vouchers, and says the program will end up taking money away from public schools. Bush favors the use of tuition vouchers, saying that parents, regardless of their income, should be able to get the best education possible for their children.
Their stances on abortion may also be a deciding factor for many because of the possible Supreme Court appointments. Gore has said he will pick more liberal justices, Bush, more conservative.
Bush has pointed to Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, the court's two most conservative justices, as his model for possible appointments.
The Bush campaign contends that the Supreme Court issue is being used as a "scare tactic" by Gore.
"Governor Bush has been very direct on this issue," Lisaius said. "He has no litmus test on the appointment of justices."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(11/07/00 10:00am)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Gore campaign has seen no rest in the past 24 hours, but, today, Democrat Al Gore will be relaxing with his family here in his home state, anxiously awaiting election returns.
Gore, who began the day at three in the morning in Tampa, Fl., arrived in Nashville five hours later and headed to his home community of Elmwood where he cast his vote for president.
He had lunch with his mother, Pauline, in Carthage and arrived at his hotel shortly after.
While Gore can now do little to affect the outcome of this closest election in decades, his campaign is confident they will be successful in turning out the most voters.
"Early indications [show] that Democratic turnout is strong," Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway said.
In crucial states such as Iowa and Oregon, absentee ballots have been sent in by Democrats at greater numbers than Republicans.
Democrats have sent in 290,000 absentee ballots in Oregon, versus the 260,000 Republicans have completed.
"These are people who are the best in politics," Democratic National Committee press secretary Jennifer Backus said of the strategists the Democrats have in key states. "They are telling me they are extremely encouraged. Early reports that we're getting are very optimistic."
Hattaway points to increased turnout of Democrats in Florida as signs of success. While voters are free to vote for any candidate, chances are those Democrats who have shown up at the polls thus far have voted for Gore.
And in the key Democratic counties of Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, experts are predicting record turnout, well over 70 percent.
"I think the story of the day thus far is Al Gore's lead in Florida," Hattaway said.
Actor/director Rob Reiner, famous for such films as When Harry Met Sally, was also optimistic about Gore's chances in this final day.
"This is the first time we've been up in the national polls in a
month," Reiner, who has been stumping for Gore from early on in the campaign, said. "That's good."
Despite the optimism, however, the Gore campaign is not ready to declare victory.
"This is a very close election," Backus said.
Jim Frush, a friend of Gore's who guided him in a climb up Mt. Rainier in Washington state last year, was, despite the apprehension in these final hours, quite stoic.
"Now, when [Gore] can finally stop working, he can have the satisfaction of knowing he's done what he could."
-- Joshua Runyan
(11/07/00 10:00am)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- This is a city that is being afforded quite a bit of political attention lately.
While the majority of bumper stickers on the cars parked along the few streets in downtown Nashville have taken the high road and chosen religion over politics -- "Jesus is Lord" is a favorite -- many "Gore 2000" stickers can be seen, as well as the occasional "Bush-Cheney."
Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore has his headquarters here and labor unions throughout the city are going door to door today to get out the vote.
About 150 fire fighters -- decked in bright yellow T-shirts sporting the message "Fire Fighters for Gore" -- held a rally last night, just blocks from the scaffolding and power cables marking the location of Gore's election night party.
Gore, in a way, can lay the same claim to Nashville that country music has -- despite polls suggesting that the race is far from certain in Tennessee, Nashville is, on the whole, Gore's city.
Most citizens here feel a kind of pride in Gore, a native Tennesseean who represented the state in the House of Representatives and later the Senate.
And when Gore became vice president in 1992, Tennessee helped Bill Clinton claim victory against former President George Bush.
"I think he's doing pretty well here," said Jonna Laidlaw, 42, a clinical worker who lives in Nashville. "[Gore's] made an effort to come back here and keep up communication."
Laidlaw's husband, Brian, 43, agreed, but reiterated what the polls have been saying: Just because Nashville supports Gore, does not mean that the whole state backs him.
Instead, Tennessee is a toss-up state, where Gore is running slightly behind Republican George W. Bush. According to the latest Mason-Dixon poll, Bush has a four percentage point advantage, with a four point margin of error.
"I don't think it's decided yet," Laidlaw said. "Gore is from this part of the state, but Knoxville and Chattanooga are more Republican," he added, pointing out the difference of opinion in the more conservative eastern part of the state.
But while those in Knoxville may be rooting for Bush, here in the center part of the state Gore is the talk of the town.
Even 8-year-old Roni McNeer cast a vote for Gore -- in her school's mock-election, despite a confession that she had no idea why.
Her parents, Angee, 29, and Wade Shoemaker, 38, however, crystallized the issues that led them to support Gore.
"Bush has vetoed every bill that fire fighters have worked for," said Wade Shoemaker, a Nashville fire fighter for nine years. "Gore has been a strong supporter of fire fighters."
"And the union as well," Angee Shoemaker added.
The Shoemakers were among those at the rally, organized by the International Association of Fire Fighters, a branch of the American Federation of Labor.
"He's for the working man," said Jim Foster, business agent for the local plumbers and pipe-fitters union, explaining his reasons for voting for Gore.
Added John Marore, a 45-year-old fire fighter, "I'm certainly impressed with Gore's experience, especially his intelligence."
Even though Gore has the support of local laborers, he still has his work cut out for him in the rest of the state.
In Brentwood, a high-income community outside of Nashville, rows and rows of Bush-Cheney lawn signs dot the neighborhood.
And Tennessee has a Republican governor, two Republican senators and a mostly GOP delegation in the House.
But in the capital of the state, Gore is popular with average citizens.
"He's from here, he visits often and he keeps in touch with everyone," 28-year-old Jennifer Jones said.