Hillary Rodham Clinton took another sharp jab at the Bush administration as she outlined her science policy Thursday.

The front-runner in the 2008 Democratic presidential campaign unveiled her agenda for the scientific community at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C.

Under her administration, she said, the federal government would return to funding "ethical embryonic stem-cell research," ban political appointees' interference with government scientists' conclusions, elevate a science advisor to report directly to the president, and boost research into space exploration, the earth sciences and alternative energy.

Many scientists have criticized President Bush, charging that he's had political appointees interfere with the conclusions of scientific research, muzzled agency officials who have independent points of view, and not paid enough attention to evidence that human activities are causing global climate change.

Clinton used the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik launch to outline a broad science policy that would reverse Bush's overall approach to federally funded science programs. She also addressed the science community's increasingly vocal allegations that the Bush administration has politicized scientific research.

"For six-and-a-half years under this president, it's been open season on open inquiry," Clinton said in a statement. "By ignoring or manipulating science, the Bush administration is letting our economic competitors get an edge in the global economy."

"I was impressed. She seemed to know the concerns of the science community, and she pushed all the right buttons," said Al Teich, the American Association for the Advancement of Science's director of policy, who heard Clinton speak Thursday morning.

"The positions that she pressed will be very well-received by the science community," he added.

The AAAS has disagreed with Bush administration policies in several areas of science, most notably in the area of funding, Teich said.

Teich was particularly struck by an anecdote that Clinton shared with her audience about how Bush's stem-cell policy had made research in this area particularly difficult. Clinton recalled a story she'd been told about a stem-cell researcher's experiment that had been ruined when the lab suffered a power failure. Because the rules ban researchers from using federally funded facilities for privately funded stem-cell research, the scientist was unable transfer the laboratory samples to a working refrigerator paid for by the federal government. The experiment was ruined.

"The point was about how difficult it is to do that kind of research now because of the need to create these separations," said Teich. "She understood this issue, and this is of considerable concern to many scientists."

President Bush in 2001 issued an executive order that banned federal funding for starting new lines of stem cells for research purposes. That reversed a policy put in place by the Clinton administration, which assembled a committee of scientists, philosophers and religious leaders to advise the White House on rules for funding ethical stem-cell research. The rules ended up being similar to those outlined by the AAAS, Teich said.