Not surprisingly, space policy wasn’t one of the subjects of the Democratic Party presidential debate last night on CNN. However, a little-noticed article in last week’s print edition of Space News sheds a little light on the space policy of New Mexico governor Bill Richardson. According to the article, Richardson met with a group of space professionals at a fundraiser in the Washington area on May 16, spending an hour there talking with the over 50 people in attendance on space issues. Richardson is best known in space circles for his support of Spaceport America, a commercial spaceport in his home state, but didn’t shed much light on his thoughts about the Vision for Space Exploration and NASA’s implementation of it. He did say that he sees space as “a bona fide area of economic growth and opportunity”, as the article put it, and said he would use Spaceport America as a model of the national-level projects he would enact as president. Of course, that may be of only academic interest, since Richardson is barely registering at the national level in recent polls (although he is running fourth in Iowa), although many have considered Richardson a likely running mate for whomever wins the presidential nomination, and in past administrations the vice president’s portfolio has included space.
Do you have any links to the policy article by Richardson? He’s my favorite horse in this race, and I’d liek to see what he’s said about Space.