Late returns: Hernández loses, Sherman beats Berman

Former NASA astronaut Jose Hernández (D) failed in his bid to represent California’s 10th district in the House of Representatives, losing to incumbent Rep. Jeff Denham (R) 54-46%. Hernández also lost to Denham in the district’s open primary in June, finishing a distant second with several other candidates on the ballot; the margin in the […]

Lampson bid to return to Congress falling short

Two-time former congressman Nick Lampson (D) is losing in his bid to return to Congress, where he served on the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee. CNN has called the election for the 14th district for his opponent, Randy Weber (R); Weber was leading 54-45% with a little over half the vote in.

Nelson to win third term in Senate

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), running in perhaps the biggest space-related Congressional race in this campaign, appears to be cruising to victory tonight. With a little over 50% of the votes tallied, Nelson had a 57-41% lead over Rep. Connie Mack IV (R-FL), his Republican challenger. CNN has already declared him the winner, as has the […]

A look at some space-related Congressional races

As the 2012 campaign (finally) reaches its conclusion, most of the attention in space policy circles has been on the presidential campaign, as people attempted to compare and contrast the positions of President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney. However, there are a number of Senate and House races whose outcomes might also play a […]

Posey: Romney would provide “clearer goals” for NASA

Florida radio station WMFE interviewed Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s views on space policy. Posey does cover some highlights of Romney campaign’s space policy, including providing “clearer goals” for NASA. “Romney/Ryan recognize that NASA has long been asked to do too much with too little,” Posey said in the ten-minute […]

Space is one of 39

Last night the Obama campaign posted (and emailed to its vast distribution list) a list of 39 accomplishments (“Just a couple”, the campaign noted at the beginning of the list) that the president had made in his first term. There’s a lot of predictable big-ticket issues listed, but tucked in at number 34, between entries […]

Dueling astronaut op-eds (and the utility thereof)

With less than a week until the election, the presidential campaigns, and their supporters, are making their final cases—even in the realm of space policy. In the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday, former astronaut Gene Cernan criticized the Obama Administration’s space policy and said Mitt Romney would do a better job on space issues. And, in […]

Florida Today endorses Romney, Nelson, and Posey

Florida Today, the newspaper that serves the Space Coast region of Florida, ised a series of endorsements for key races on Sunday, including Mitt Romney for president. The space policy positions of Romney versus those of President Obama didn’t play that much of a role: the four members of the newspaper’s editorial board split their […]

Dueling op-eds from the candidates

This week’s issue of Space News features a pair of commentaries from the campaigns of the two major presidential candidates, largely reiterating points previously made during the campaign. Representing the Obama campaign, former science and technology advisor Jim Kohlenberger first lays out the various accomplishments of the Obama Administration during its first term. (That includes […]

John McCain wants to put “a man or a woman on Mars”

Sen. John Mccain (R-AZ), who lost to Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, was campaigning in Florida yesterday in support of President Obama’s 2012 opponent, Mitt Romney, including a stop on Florida’s Space Coast. While there, he briefly offered his thoughts on the US should be doing in space, specifically, the need for a […]