Popular Mechanics Analyzes the Candidates

Popular Mechanics systematically exposes that all 3 presidential candidates are soft on space. McCain will freeze the budget, Hillary focuses on a ensuring expensive government capability to do what COTS is trying to do, and Obama is stately against expensive and dangerous human spaceflight.

It makes me sick to my stomach to see these politicians cover their bases with vague statements and ignoring the science debate. Give them your 2 cents. Tell them it makes you sick as well.

Promote Science Debate 2008 and
Email, Fax, and call Obama at (866) 675-2008,
Email, Fax, and call Clinton at (703) 469-2008, and
Email, Fax, and call McCain at (703) 418-2800.

Barack in Houston

"Barack Obama is in Texas, where he holds a roundtable discussion and a town hall meeting in San Antonio, and attends a campaign rally in Houston."

Stand for Change Town Hall with Barack Obama

La Plaza De Guadalupe
1327 Guadalupe Street
San Antonio, TX 78207

Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Doors Open: 12:00 p.m.

Stand for Change Rally with Barack Obama

Toyota Center
1510 Polk Street
Houston, TX

Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Doors Open: 6:00 p.m.

Barack's space policy would have a material negative impact on the city of Houston. Get out to the town hall in San Antonio and tell him why he is wrong. Go to the ralley and make you voice heard.

With Super Tuesday Split, Opportunities for Speaking With the Candidates Continue

Gear up, space advocates. The primaries aren't over, and the candidates are all over the map the next few days. With the Super Tuesday primaries so close on the democratic side, and Huckabee not giving up, the campaigns roll on. Check the following list to see where you can get to a candidate and tell them what you think about space exploration and the national need to engage in it!

February 7th:
Clinton in Arlington, VA and Seattle, WA

McCain in Baltimore, MD
Obama in New Orleans, LA and Omaha, NB

February 8th:
Clinton and Obama in Washington (Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma)

Crunchtime for ScienceDebate2008

The following is the text of an email that I received tonight about Science Debate 2008. If you do nothing else, sign the petition stating your support for the presidential candidates to participate in a debate centered on science in America. If your support is thicker than that, bring the resolution to your local caucus and present it. The email is as follows:

Dear John,

On Friday PBS NewsHour ran this story on us.

Then today, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine joined AAAS and the Council on Competitiveness as official cosponsors of Science Debate 2008. Together we now comprise a large portion of the American science and technology community. 64 leading universities and big-name organizations have also officially signed on.

We now have an exceptionally attractive location and date and we hope to be inviting the candidates late this week.

We need your help to make that invitation as compelling as possible:

• Please recruit every prominent leader you know to join this important initiative in the next two days.
• Please recruit every institution, corporation or organization you can get to join this important initiative in the next two days. Have them mention it is an organizational endorsement.
• Keep track of our growing list of signers here and here.

This is it, folks. We need you. Thanks for being a part of this historic and important initiative. Finally, please consider making an online donation here.

The team at ScienceDebate2008.com

PS: if you live in a state that caucuses this Tuesday, please consider presenting this nonpartisan resolution calling for the debate.

California Prepares Point Paper for Presidential Candidates

The California Space Authority has written a short paper to advise presidential candidates on the issues relevant to the space industry in California. Read it and then tell the candidates what you think and why they should pay attention to this paper. Urge them to act on issues such as export controls, homeland security issues, and the space enterprise workforce.

Get Your Voice Into a Candidates Ear Today!

Florida, Georgian, and Louisianan Space supporters:

* Hillary Clinton participates in a King Day prayer service, then marches from the Zion Baptist Church to the South Carolina Statehouse and participates in a King Day event there.

* John Edwards addresses the NAACP's King Day rally at the Capitol.

* Barack Obama participates in the march begins from Zion Baptist Church and attends the rally at the South Carolina Statehouse.

* Rudy Giuliani is in Florida, where he attends rallies in Orlando, Daytona Beach and Ponte Vedra Beach.

* Mike Huckabee attends the Martin Luther King Jr. service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, and hosts a news conference to announce African-American endorsements in Atlanta. Later, he heads to Orlando, where he hosts a media availability and a closed press fundraiser.

* John McCain is in Florida, where he holds a meet and greet and media availability in Miami and a media availability in Jacksonville.

* Ron Paul is in Louisiana, where he visits Shreveport, Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

* Mitt Romney is in Florida, where he meets with workers, then with participants in the Jacksonville Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade. Later, he holds "Change Begins with Us" tour stops in Daytona Beach and Titusville, and meets with aerospace industry executives in Cape Canaveral.

UPDATE: Time to put the Heat onto Romney

UPDATE: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who emerged as the favorite in Saturday's Nevada caucuses, also is now focused on Florida, with a daylong schedule of events Monday that begin in Jacksonville and later span Central Florida.

Romney is slated to be in downtown Orlando around 2 p.m., for an event at CNL Center One on South Orange Ave.

Mitt Romney is in Florida, where he meets with workers, then with participants in the Jacksonville Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade. Later, he holds "Change Begins with Us" tour stops in Daytona Beach and Titusville, and meets with aerospace industry executives in Cape Canaveral.

Orlando Readers, go tell Romney what you think at 2PM on South Orange Ave!

Mitt Romney won the Nevada primary this morning. He also accepted the same invitation that Giuliani had acted on yesterday to meet with the Economic Development Council of Florida’s Space Coast.

This is coming on the heals of Giuliani's pledge at this meeting that he would support (aka fund) a robust manned exploration program.

Mitt needs to compete with Giuliani in Florida, where Giuliani is has been putting all of his energy (and money) lately. If Mitt wants to be competitive, let him know that he has to match or beat Giuliani pledge to support spaceflight.

Email Romney and call him at (857) 288-6400. Send him a fax and reiterate it.

Tell him how important it is that he has accepted the invitation of the EDC and tell him that he better deliver a pledge worth of your vote after his meeting Monday (even of you don't live in Florida.)

Clinton, Edwards, Huckabee, McCain, and Edwards all have not agreed to meet with the EDC. Use the links on this page and contact them to tell them that they need to step up. Tell them what Giuliani and Romney are doing. Tell them that they need to accept the invitation from the EDC and publicize a clear supportive space policy.

Word is that Huckabee is on the edge, so be sure to hit him with your message.

Don't let up!

Giuliani pledges to send astronauts to the moon and Mars

Giuliani stated boldly and unequivocally today his commintment to send humans to the Moon and Mars, among other things. He did this in response to an open invitation to the Economic Development Council of Florida’s Space Coast. Obama, Romney, Huckabee, McCain, Clinton, and Edwards have all received this invitation and not answered to it. The Florida primary isn't until Jan 29, so the other candidates will turn their attention to Florida after the primaries in Nevada and South Carolina are finished tomorrow.

When they turn their attention to florida, lets give them something to think about.

• Fax them all at once
  
• Email Obama and call him at (866) 675-2008
  
• Email Romney and call him at (857) 288-6400
  
• Email Huckabee and call him at (800) 871-6302
  
• Email McCain and call him at (703) 418-2008
  
• Email Clinton and call her at (703) 469-2008
  
• Email Edwards and call him at (919) 636-3131
  

Tell them that they need to support spaceflight, tell them that they need to answer the invitation of the Economic Development Council of Florida’s Space Coast. Tell them your vote depends on it (It might...).

Get Out of Your Chair!

If you are close to Elko, Nevada go to the Town Hall with Barack Obama at Elko High School at 987 College Ave. The doors open at 2:30 Friday, January 18.

Ask Barack what his space policy is. Tell him how important it is to increase funding.

Or if you feel otherwise inclined,

Go tell Hillary the same thing at Elko Indian Colony Gymnasium, 2250 Indian View Heights Dr., Elko, NV 89801 from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM.

Go and talk to the candidate or their policy people. Make it happen.

Giuliani talking space

Florida Today has its finger on the pulse of a visit Giuliani is making to the Kennedy space center this afternoon. Giuliani "He was the only candidate to accept an invitation from the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast." Can a candidate on his last run impact the whole field? If Giuliani is desperate for Florida, he might make some big pledges to get votes there. The other candidates will have more pressure and visibility for their lack of a clearly defined space policy. If you are in the area, head on down to the Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral to show him that you are interested. Call up the resort and ask who is interviewing him, and tell them what you want to know.

Science Debate 2008

Each day, we have a new opportunity to promote space in this years election: Sciencedebate2008

Even when a question was asked at the Youtube debate about space exploration, the candidates took it lightly.

Participants from across government, industry, and academia are organizing a debate to be held specifically about science issues. They need our support!

• Go sign the petition
• Fax the Candidates and tell them that they need to participate and even promote this event

Join The New Space Grassroots Upswell!

Welcome Budding Space Activist!

This website has had over 50 posts in a few weeks about news and opportunities to take concrete positive action for space exploration in America!

Enter here to get started

We have already had an impact on several of the candidates campaigns!

And We Have Liftoff!

The space community had responded to the call and we are coming out en masse to make our voices heard in the Jan 30 and 31 politico debates in Los Angeles. Since Saturday night, the questions have flooded into politico.com for the CNN televised debate. Not only that, but the space questions have been voted to the top of both the Republican and Democratic debates. Wired has reported on our success.

What is different about this political movement from the space community is that it is not the traditional scramble to promote one space initiative over another, but it is an effort to promote space exploration in general to our would be political leaders.

Keep up the good work!

Even before those debates heat up, we have another opportunity to make our voices heard:

CNN's Wolf Blitzer has asked for suggestions to what he might ask. With almost 3000 suggestions as of this writing, I suspect that they might data mine the comments for common themes, so lets get our themes in the debate!

Continue submitting and voting for questions at dyn.politico.com/debate.

We need to band together, and watch out for more opportunities to flex our muscle. Email me or comment about other debates and opportunities to give feedback, so that I can post them here. In the meantime, check here for information about current legislation, threats to the community, and methods to contact our legislators to promote the most noble endeavor the human family has yet embarked on.