The Wall Street Journal tried to reach state Sen. Peter Roskam for two days to talk to him about stem cell research, but no can do.

While Ms. Duckworth jumps on the issue, Mr. Roskam dodges it. “There are bigger issues going on in this campaign.” says spokesman Ryan McLaughlin, declining to make the candidate available despite several requests over two days.

That’s strange. Just last month, Roskam had this to say to the Daily Herald:

“We cannot leave our moral obligations at the laboratory door and take one human life and cast it aside for the benefit of another.”

He even talked to the now defunct Illinois Leader when asked about Comptroller Dan Hynes’ attempt to pass a $1 billion stem cell research proposal.

“His proposal’s not going anywhere,” State Senator Peter Roskam, who led the opposition to stem cell research on the Senate floor last week, said Wednesday.

He also had this to say in a June 13 press release, which responded to a Tammy Duckworth press conference on stem cell research:

In matters such as these, we cannot leave our moral obligations at the laboratory door.

According to the Wall Street Journal article, Roskam had this to say in 2004:

“We are asked to pit one life against another.”

He even talked to the WSJ earlier this year.

In an interview with the Journal earlier this year, Mr. Roskam called his views “well within the mainstream” of the district. Those voters who do disagree with him, he added, support him because they share his views on keeping taxes low and other issues.

So, why not now? Is the issue polling that badly?

Meanwhile, the dodging and weaving from the Roskam camp displeased conservative activist Fran Eaton, who wrote today:

Senator Roskam, I implore you to pick up the standard you’ve been proudly waving for so long and energize weakening troops back to the front. Don’t retreat, or allow your campaign manager to evade the issue as he is quoted as doing in the WSJ today.