Travaglini said Romney's decision to reveal his position in The New York Times lends credence to the idea that he is using the stem-cell issue to nurture his national ambitions. "There's evidence that is clearly concerned with the national agenda," Travaglini said. "One could argue this is consistent with that evidence."

Jeffrey Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University, said Romney's use of a national newspaper to reveal his position on a Massachusetts policy issue is a clear sign that he is trying to position himself for the Republican presidential primaries. Berry said Romney is aiming to soften his liberal image among the socially conservative voters who dominate those contests.

"It is a sign he is not concerned about Massachusetts as we would expect a sitting governor to be," Berry said. "He is speaking to a national audience."

Romney scoffed at the idea that his interview with The New York Times has anything to do with presidential ambitions. Saying he regularly reads The Note, ABC's daily political newsletter, he argued out that local and regional media outlets are just as accessible to a national audience in the age of the Internet.

"I don't think there is any such thing as the national media today, and the local and regional media," Romney said. "I read the Note everyday. There is no story that I know that is a local story that is not a national story."

Romney said Thursday that his position has evolved with the times; the Globe reported last October that two teams of Harvard researchers were preparing to work with embryos created through cloning.

"I didn't ask President Travaglini to make stem-cell research his first priority. Interestingly, last year, I supported what he was looking for. But this new dimension, which is creating new embryos through cloning, this is a very new line, and I would not cross that line," Romney said Thursday.

Romney said he reached his decision after meeting with researchers, ethicists and advocates and discussing the issue with his wife, Ann. Ann Romney has multiple sclerosis, a disease that stem-cell research might one day help to treat. He did not elaborate on his wife's condition Thursday.

If Romney was attempting to impress social conservatives, his effort fell flat. Massachusetts Citizens for Life and the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, which have lobbied heavily against the Legislature's previous efforts to approve stem-cell bills, said they oppose the governor's stance because they believe a human embryo is a human being that should not be destroyed, even if it is left over from in vitro fertilization. The National Right to Life Committee, a prominent Washington-based group, agreed.

"I'm not sure there is a lot of difference. If you are taking the stem cell from the embryo for research, you have to destroy the embryo. He's still in favor of killing the new lives that are in existence right now," said Carol Tobias, the group's political director. "If that embryo, that human life, is being destroyed for the research, that is not proper. That is not ethical."

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Gareth Cook of the Globe staff contributed to this report.