By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER

The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- The eyes of scientists, politicians and business leaders across the country were on Missouri and its proposed constitutional amendment to protect stem-cell research Tuesday.

Known as Amendment 2, the ballot measure was the only one nationally in Tuesday's election to directly address the disputed research technique.

Returns from 55 percent of the state's precincts show the proposal being rejected by about 52 percent of voters, due largely to opposition in rural areas.

As of 10:40 p.m., most voters in 70 of the state's 114 counties had rejected the measure, with only seven counties in the supporting column. But those unofficial and partial results came with a significant caveat: almost all the precincts in St. Louis and Kansas City and surrounding suburbs, areas generally expected to heavily favor the amendment, had not reported vote totals.

Stem cell opponents won almost a 2-to-1 majority in Cape Girardeau, Perry, Scott and Bollinger counties, building up a margin of over 16,500 votes in the four constituencies.

The strong campaign based in churches and aided by doctors opposed to the research overwhelmed the efforts of the well-funded campaign by proponents, carried out mostly through direct mail and on-air advertising.

Lela Green, 80, of Marble Hill, Mo., said after voting that the initiative was morally wrong. "I don't believe in what they are doing," she said. "God created our babies and we don't need to take that away."

While supporters have portrayed the ballot measure as nonpartisan, several backers monitoring election returns at a Washington University conference center in St. Louis hoped the nationwide gains by Democrats would translate into a victory for the amendment.

"This could be the greatest medical breakthrough in our lifetime," said the Rev. B.T. Rice of New Horizons Christian Church in St. Louis.

Stem cell supporters in Florida, Georgia and Kentucky are gearing up for similar ballot measures in the 2008 elections, depending upon the outcome in Missouri. Elsewhere, stem cell research emerged as a contentious campaign topic in the Wisconsin, Michigan, California, Maryland and Connecticut governors' races.

The amendment, also known as the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, would guarantee that any federally allowed stem cell research and treatments could occur in Missouri, including embryonic stem cell research.

Its significance is largely symbolic: Embryonic stem cell research is already occurring in Missouri. Supporters cite several unsuccessful attempts by some state lawmakers to criminalize the procedure as the impetus for the measure.

Though the technique is unproven, advocates of embryonic stem-cell research hope it will eventually generate treatment and cures for spinal cord injuries, diabetes, Alzheimer's and a host of other diseases.

The five-page amendment bans human cloning, but implicitly allows a technique referred to by stem-cell scientists as therapeutic cloning.

Also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, the technique involves replacing the nucleus of an unfertilized human egg with the nucleus from a skin or nerve cell. The altered egg then is stimulated to grow in a lab dish, with researchers removing the resulting stem cells -- and sacrificing the donor embryo in the process.

Outspent by nearly $27 million in Missouri's costliest political campaign ever, amendment opponents relied upon a grassroots effort led by appeals from the pulpit and pro-life activists.

Their message: Despite the vast promise of embryonic stem-cell research, the destruction of a human embryo, like abortion, is an assault on a human life that begins at conception.

The amendment won the support of prominent Republicans such as Gov. Matt Blunt and former U.S. Sen. John Danforth. Besides drawing a distinction between reproductive and therapeutic cloning, the two political leaders cited the considerable economic benefits Missouri might reap as a state supportive of cutting-edge research.