In article ,
(ed kyle) wrote:

Sen. John Edwards: "I am a strong supporter of our space program. It
reflects the best of the American spirit of optimism, discovery and
progress. A manned mission to Mars is in the American tradition of
setting ambitious goals for exploring space, but we must be able to
pay for the program."

Sen. John Kerry: "Our civilian space program represents a great
opportunity for scientific research. Sending a person to Mars is a
great mission worthy of a great nation like America. Given the Bush
budget deficit, it is imperative that we balance funding for a manned
mission to Mars against critical domestic needs as well, such as
education and health care."

I find this encouraging. It seems that both Edwards & Kerry are
supportive of the lunar base idea (though I'm not crazy about Kerry's
casting it as a scientific research program). Of course they have to
mention balancing the budgets etc., but these guys are not idiots --
they can do the math and understand that scrapping NASA entirely
wouldn't make much difference to the national budget. I think those
ending sound bites are just to placate the more liberal democrats who
think the space program is taking food out of orphaned children's mouths
or whatnot.

From my reading of the tea leaves, the most likely ticket is Kerry with
Edwards as VP, so it's the opinion of these two that will shape the
administration. Glad to see they're pretty much in agreement.
(Kucinich sounds much more negative, but fortunately I don't think he
matters.)

I'll be voting against Bush regardless, but I'll feel much happier about
it if the person I'm voting for seems likely to provide continued
support for the new space initiative.

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