From: gmarfoe@eng.auburn.edu (Gerald George Marfoe)
Subject: Article (part) on Gore's support for NASA from 9/5/92 Birmingham News
Keywords: Gore, Quayle, NASA, ASRM, Birmingham
Reply-To: gmarfoe@eng.auburn.edu
Organization: Auburn University Engineering
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 08:33:26 GMT


Since I haven't seen any coverage of pro-space statements by either the
Democrats or Republicans in this newsgroup and talk.politics.space, I thought 
I'd get started by posting this article from the Birmingham News/Birmingham 
Post-Herald of September 5, 1992. Come to think of it, this is probably the 
first story I've seen in the general media concerning how the candidates regard
the future of space exploration. (I don't consider Aviation Week & Space
Technology to be the "general media".) ;-)

This article also mentions the ASRM funding battle, which I thought might
be of interest to this newsgroup.

If someone from Huntsville could post an article from the Huntsville papers
of last week, when Vice-President Quayle visited Marshall Space Flight 
Center, I'd appreciate it. All I saw from the TV news was Quayle's remarks
bashing Murphy Brown, but nothing about his support for the space program.
(All flames will be ignored.) 

The following article is partially reprinted without permission from the
Birmingham News/Birmingham Post-Herald of Saturday, September 5, 1992. 
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"HE AND CLINTON BETTER FOR NASA, GORE SAYS IN VISIT"

-----------------
By Justin Fox
News staff writer
-----------------

  America's space program would fare much better under Bill Clinton than it
has under President George Bush, Democratic vice presidential candidate
Al Gore said at a campaign stop in Birmingham Friday.

  "My position on this is not one that comes out of a sudden foxhole 
conversion", the Democratic senator from Tennessee said of his support for
space exploration. "I've been fighting in the trenches for many years."

  Gore, in town for two evening fundraisers, talked of little else but space
in a brief news conference at the Birmingham Airport.

  The vice presidential hopeful, who is chairman of the Senate subcommittee
that oversees the space agency NASA, said he "fought tooth and nail with the
Bush administration" to keep alive a space shuttle booster plant in Iuka,
Miss.
(Note: This refers to the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) program.)

  In a July 16 letter, Vice President Dan Quayle said the administration
opposed continuing to fund the plant, which employs hundreds of Alabamians.
But during a visit to Huntsville Monday, Quayle said he supported funding
the plant as part of "a strong and vigorous space exploration program."

  Said Gore: "Anybody who believes that, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to
sell you."

  Gore aimed other remarks at Alabama interests as well. Speaking about
the Star Wars missile defense program, which employs many researchers at
Huntsville's Redstone Arsenal, he said, "Bush and Quayle have tried to take
money away from Huntsville and steer it to their pie-in-the-sky Brilliant
Pebbles program."

  He also complimented medical research efforts at the University of Alabama
at Birmingham and said he is "extremely optimistic" about the Clinton/Gore
ticket's chances in the state.

  Gore was greeted at the airport by Alabama U.S. Senators Howell Heflin
and Richard Shelby and more than 200 other supporters. Scores of others
were turned back at the gate of the private hangar - on orders of the 
hangar company and the fire marshal, campaign aides said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The remainder of the article dealt with Gore's stand on environmental issues
and economics, and fundraising details which I won't bore you with. 
---

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Gerald G. Marfoe                    |"Mirabile visu. Mirabilia/Et itur ad astra
InterNet: gmarfoe@eng.auburn.edu    |... Suus cuique mos. Suum cuique.../
          ggmar@ducvax.auburn.edu   |Memento, terrigena./Memento, vita brevis."
          ggmar@hoshi.colorado.edu  |- "Afer Ventus", Enya, "Shepherd Moons"

Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle