Candidates miss opportunity to debate on science, Nobelists say

Presidential contenders Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama made a mistake when they declined an invitation from Nobel winners and other scholars to engage in a debate tomorrow on science, two laureates write in today's Wall Street Journal.

"Apparently the top contenders for our nation's highest elective office have better things to do than explain to the public their views on securing America's future," Nobel laureates David Baltimore and Ahmed Zewail write. Baltimore, formerly at MIT, is president emeritus at the California Institute of Technology and Zewail is a CalTech professor of chemistry and physics.

"America cannot simply assume its lead in science will continue. In recent years the science community has been starved of the resources it needs," they write. "We need a president who moves science back into the White House."