Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will make space an issue in the Florida Primary, according to an interview he gave to the editorial board of the Orlando Sentinel. He is aiming at the votes of space workers in and around the Kennedy Space Center.
What did Gingrich Have to Say?
Gingrich talked about the "romance of space," referring to President John Kennedy's original speech calling for a man to be sent to the moon and returned safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s. He also admonished NASA for lacking the desire to take risks. He reiterated his often stated idea of devoting five to 10 percent of NASA's budget to space prize competitions, similar to the Anasri X Prize and the Google Lunar X Prize in order to stimulate private sector competition in space. He also admonished his main rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for ridiculing his ideas for space exploration.
What has been the politics of space in Florida in recent elections?
Romney, who recently openly considered Gingrich's ideas for lunar colonies as "zany" made a speech after touring the Kennedy Space Center supporting the then-extant Constellation program that would have returned American astronauts to the moon. In the same election cycle, then candidate Barack Obama, made a speech to aerospace workers in Titusville, Fla., in which he implicitly supported the goals of the Constellation program. Obama, as president, would go on to cancel the program.
Why is Gingrich mentioning space as an issue in the Florida primaries?
Gingrich has raised space as an issue for three reasons.
First, he genuinely thinks space exploration and the settlement of the high frontier is important to the future of the U.S. While most national candidates will pay lip serve to space, Gingrich has been a supporter since his early days in Congress, according to a 2000 biography, "The Gentleman from Georgia."
Second, according to the State of Florida, the space industry represents $4.5 billion of its economy. The Kennedy Space Center employs 15,000 people and the Florida aerospace industry employs 23,000 people. That employment is under pressure due to the end of the space shuttle program and flat NASA budgets.
The third reason is that by openly supporting space, Gingrich distinguishes himself from the current front runner, Mitt Romney, who ridiculed things like lunar colonies.
The Bottom Line
Since Florida is considered a swing state as it went for Obama in 2008, every constituency in it is considered important. Aerospace workers and the vastly more numerous people whom they support economically are now as small but a crucial voter bloc. Gingrich, in recognizing this, has matched political reality to his own convictions. It remains to be seen if other candidates follow suit.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker . He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.
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