Tells Space Coast He Accepts 'Grandiose' label

Certain places in America seem to trigger pandering by politicians more than others. In 2008, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney promised a crowd in Detroit a $20 billion bailout for the domestic auto industry if he was elected. This week, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich spoke to aerospace industry leaders on Florida's Space Coast, and proposed a Kennedy-esque commitment to return to the Moon, not just to visit, but to establish a manned base.

Reuters reports Gingrich Wednesday outlined a space policy initiative that would cut NASA's bureaucracy and expand on private-sector space programs, an approach recently championed by President Obama. But he added, "We want Americans to think boldly about the future. By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American."

Perhaps taking notice of early groundwork already being put in place by private-sector space companies, he added, "We will have commercial near-Earth activities that include science, tourism and manufacturing, because it is in our interest to acquire so much experience in space that we clearly have a capacity that the Chinese and the Russians will never come anywhere close to matching."

Gingrich also said he'd devote ten percent of NASA's $18 billion budget to prizes for competitions which encourage innovation. That would be $1.8 billion, a massive increase over the few million currently spent by NASA on such activities.

The former Speaker also promised he'll be unafraid to defend the plan politically. "I'm prepared to invest the prestige of the presidency in communicating and building a nationwide movement in favor of space. If we do it right, it'll be wild and it will be just the most fun you've ever seen."

Gingrich was asked to defend the plan at Thurday night's debate in Jacksonville, FL. The former Speaker said he stood by his statement, and that it would be private companies that would be carrying the lion's share of the financial obligation to establish the colony.

During a debate in Florida on Monday, Romney said he believes there should be a vision for NASA, but offered no specifics. At Thurday night's debate, Romney said if he were on the board of directors of a company, and the CEO came to him and said he or she wanted to spend mutiple billions of dollars to establish a colony on the moon, that executive would be fired.

FMI: Video of Speech Highlights