Originally posted by Nereid
Purely cynical - how to get a few thousand more votes (esp in Florida and Texas) without really trying. Hey Loren, I posted my opinion earlier in this thread.
Later, based on something mouseonmoon (I think) said, somewhere in Astronomy, I revised my opinion: following Condie's counsel about how the US's star has begun to fade (China is the new big boy), Dubya wants a nice page in the history books, preferably better than JFK's (but without getting shot). So, what the Moon was to JFK (beat that Ruskies!), so Mars is to GW (in your face, Hu!).
Mars wasn't in the SOU address, so maybe Karl's focus groups weren't so maximum bullish on Mars?