Michael J. Fox's campaign ad for Claire McCaskill

I just watched the political message Michael J. Fox recorded for Claire McCaskill about her efforts to support stem cell research.

It's good. I don't know what it is about Michael J. Fox - maybe it's just the great characters he's played so expertly over the years - but he has the rare ability to, even in a political ad of all places, appear that he is speaking genuinely and frankly, almost spontaneously, directly to you. Seeing how his Parkinson's has progressed was disheartening, but the man's sheer charisma overshadows it.

Sometimes, it's hard to connect with issues like this if you don't personally know someone with Parkinson's. I do, but she's not going to have much of a public voice on the matter; she simply can't make the plea to voters, even if she were given the opportunity. But this is about as good an ad as I can think of to make the message for her. I just hope it can get some air time.