In Texas, Barbara Ann Radnofsky is a Democratic candidate for the US Senate against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. (“A” candidate since Radnofsky must first win a primary runoff next Tuesday.) Interestingly, she tells the Houston Chronicle that she believes that she can win votes in the Houston area by pointing out a perceived lack of attention to space issues by Sen. Hutchison:
In her hometown, Radnofsky said she detects strong sympathy with her contention that Hutchison hasn’t done enough for NASA or to obtain full federal reimbursement for the local costs of helping hurricane refugees.
“She has been completely ineffective on NASA,” Radnofsky said, adding that on many issues Hutchison has been “clearly a rubber stamp” for Bush policy.
In an “issues chart” on Radnofsky’s web site, she puts the blame for NASA funding shortfalls squarely on Hutchison’s shoulders: “Hutchison has failed to obtain adequate funding for NASA.” (page 9) Much of that statement, though, revolves around the FY07 budget request, which the Senate has yet to take up, so it may be a little too early to declare failure here.
It would be nice if someone from Radnofsky’s campaign were reading this. The truth is not that Hutchison pays too little attention to NASA, it’s that she doesn’t understand NASA and she is completely unqualified to support it properly. She has the mindset of OMNI magazine and her Democratic opponent could in principle win conservative votes with that message.
But I have the sinking feeling that Radnofsky might not be much better.