Phantom cuts, part 1

CQ Politics published a transcript of a conference call featuring Sen. Bill Nelson earlier today talking about primarily about Medicare and Medicaid, but the senator, unsurprisingly, talked a bit about space policy in his opening remarks:

Well, as we speak, John McCain has left Miami and he’s en route to my home town of […]

Florida heats up

As noted here yesterday, John McCain is expected to discuss his support for additional NASA funding during a speech late today in Melbourne, Florida. The Orlando Sentinel reports that the McCain campaign is trying to get “space industry officials” to attend the rally, hoping that their attendance will be perceived as an endorsement of the […]

McCain to “confirm his support” for extra NASA funding on Friday

John McCain is scheduled to make a campaign stop Friday afternoon in Melbourne, Florida, and Florida Today reports that McCain will bring up his support of NASA during the speech: “Campaign spokesmen said the Republican presidential candidate will confirm his support for a $2 billion increase for the NASA budget.” Such a statement, coupled with […]

Chronicle endorses Lampson

Up until earlier this week, Rep. Nick Lampson was perhaps the incumbent House Democrat most in danger of losing reelection, given the demographics of his district. (Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL) can probably now claim that dubious honor, for reasons that have nothing to do with district demographics). Lampson, whose district includes NASA’s Johnson Space Center, […]

McCain: still committed to additional NASA funding

Florida Today> this morning published a very brief statement by the McCain campaign designed, it seems, to rebut Democratic criticism that a President McCain would freeze NASA’s budget if elected. The statement, credited to Mario Diaz, Southeast Regional Communications Director for the McCain campaign:

Recently John McCain sent a letter to the President about […]

Space Coast congressional endorsements

Today’s Florida Today features an editorial endorsing Bill Posey for the Congressional seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Dave Weldon. Posey, a Republican, is running against Democrat Steve Blythe (who beat out a staunchly pro-space candidate in the Democratic primary in August) and two independents. The editorial argues that Posey will be a “strong advocate […]

McCain’s World Space Week statement

World Space Week is a relatively obscure observance, virtually unknown outside the space community and not universally known inside it. Yet the event, which this year ran from October 4 to today, prompted statements from both presidential candidates. On Sunday the Obama campaign issued its statement, and yesterday the McCain campaign quietly released its own […]

Obama “space” ad and continuing the “freeze” drumbeat

The Barack Obama campaign formally announced the release of a new 60-second ad that mentions the space program, at least in a historical context, at the very beginning:

The campaign claims in a press release that the ad is “the first by either presidential candidate to highlight the space program”. However, as you can […]

Biden: McCain would put space program “on ice”

In an interview with Orlando television station WKMG, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden touched upon space policy during a discussion of what changing factors had caused support for the Obama-Biden ticket to increase in Florida recently, as measured in some polls:

“Well, I think there are a number of things,” Biden said. “One, you have […]

That’s an expensive overhead projector

The closest thing to space in last night’s debate was this quip by John McCain criticizing what he considered to be Barack Obama’s big-spending ways:

He voted for nearly a billion dollars in pork barrel earmark projects, including, by the way, $3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. My friends, […]