With 13 Nobel laureates on the board and a gig this week on Comedy Central, Scientists and Engineers for America is not your typical political operation. Organized as a 527 group — able to advocate for issues but not support or oppose candidates — SEA is speaking out against the political manipulation of research results and in favor of additional research money.

Unlike other science groups —which tend to step well back from politics — SEA is taking its campaign straight to the voters. It is raising money to buy political ads in key states and set up speakers to get their point across in time for the fall election. Those fall races are also just the beginning: The group is planning for the long haul with its eyes firmly on the 2008 presidential race. Under the guidance of Executive Director Mike Brown, a Capitol Hill veteran and the 2004 election campaign manager for Virginia’s Republican Congressman Jim Moran, SEA is targeting federal races in Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, Ohio, Michigan and Washington state. Most of these races have candidates facing off over stem cell research, Brown said. Voters are also weighing positions on global warming and Ohio has a ballot initiative on intelligent design.