Campaign '08

A “political space race”?

That’s the claim the Orlando Sentinel makes in a blog post about Mitt Romney’s visit to KSC today, which will be followed by a meeting with the same industry officials that Rudy Giuliani met with on Friday. In between his KSC tour and meeting, Romney will hold a press conference at the KSC Visitors Center, something Giuliani didn’t do; Romney had wanted to have the press follow him on his tour but KSC officials, recalling memories of John Kerry’s 2004 visit and the ensuing Bunnysuitgate. (Notably, there are no photos of Giuliani’s visit Friday on the KSC Media Gallery site.)

“This electoral one-upmanship is exactly the kind of competitive behavior that space fans have been praying for,” Block writes. No doubt that’s true, but that one-upmanship might be running out of steam: none of the other Republican candidates have committed for similar meetings with the Space Coast’s Economic Development Commission (and John McCain has turned down their invitation, citing scheduling conflicts, according to the Sentinel), and the Democrats are not campaigning in Florida. And, Block notes, “none [of the candidates] have been willing to talk in specifics about funding levels, which is ultimately what it is all about.”

3 comments to A “political space race”?

  • This is exactly the defining moment in shaping presidential policy and support for the next 4 to 8 years. We, as the interested public, never had a moment more important than now to tell the candidates that they need to get into the political space race!

    go to http://www.actionforspace.com and
    fax
    email
    call
    learn where you can physically go and tell them that they need to support the exploration of space!

    http://www.actionforspace.com

  • That is exactly why I wrote the CNN/LAT question that way that I did, so that the candidates would start to think in terms of budget numbers, along with a goal.

    So far, it seems to be working. 9 out of the top 10 questions for the Dems, (out of 1753!) continue to be space-related. As an aside, the “Darfur” question dropped from 3 to 4. On the Reps side, it is much better then it was a few days ago, 8 out of the top 10.

    While it may not yet be a “political space race”, at least some of these folks are paying attention. I am sure that both of these trips were planned prior to trying to tip the scales over at CNN/LAT, but I hope that we had some impact.

    Take care. mjl

  • oops. I guess I am not smart enough to handle a blockquote tag…. sorry for how the above post turned out. Take care. mjl

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