If the 2010 midterm elections are all about jobs, jobs, jobs, then the race for Florida's 15th Congressional District is about space, space, space.
U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Melbourne, and other Space Coast politicians are scrambling for ways to save jobs and set a course for the space industry in the wake of the inevitable end of the space shuttle program.
Posey can be forgiven if he has a slight twinge of dvu when it comes to this issue. He was laid off from NASA subcontractor McDonald Douglas as the Apollo space program started to wind down in the mid-1970s.
"Brevard County went from having the lowest per capita age in the country to one of the most economically depressed centers in America," Posey said.
The end of the Apollo program resulted in 25,000 layoffs, and although there will be fewer jobs lost this time around, Posey believes the economic impact could be even more catastrophic.
"It's going to happen at a worse economic time. (In the '70s) there were places for displaced workers to go," Posey said.
Although his seat is reasonably secure, and he has more than 20 years of experience in the space industry, Posey faces another industry veteran in the race for his House seat. He won his seat with 53 percent of the vote in 2008, replacing longtime Republican incumbent Dave Weldon.
The Democratic challenger is Cape Canaveral Councilwoman Shannon Roberts, who has 30 years of experience working for NASA and space-related private companies. Posey does not have any Republican primary opponents.
Both candidates agree that one more shuttle launch should be authorized to narrow the gap between the shuttle program and the development of the next generation of manned space-flight vehicles. But they disagree on the nature and scope of America's long-term space designs.
Posey supports the bipartisan House bill which calls for NASA to develop spacecraft for low-earth orbit by 2015, and provides $150 million in the next three years for commercial space flight.
The legislation falls short of the Senate bill, which calls for $1.6 billion for commercial flights over the same time period, and well short of the $3.3 billion preferred by the White House.
"(The Obama administration) keeps talking about this great commercial space market, but ... there are no specific plans for exploration," Posey said.
But Roberts and other Democrats want to find a compromise between Obama's and Congress' plans, and have more faith in the emergence of the commercial space flight.
"(Private companies) are really ready to take this on. I think it's very timely," Roberts said.
Beyond the space issue, Posey is looking forward to a possible Republican rebound in 2010, when the GOP can set the legislative agenda.
"I think the wind is definitely at the back of the Republicans and that the majority of the public regrets that (the Democrats) have taken advantage of their control," Posey said.
After being laid off, Posey founded a residential and commercial real estate company and has more than 30 years of experience in the industry. He is well aware of the burst of the housing bubble that led to the recent economic collapse, but doesn't think more government regulation is the answer.
"The real estate market is not going to turn around until the economy turns around and the economy is not going to turn around until the government gets out of people's way and lets them get back to work," he said.
A landslide victory for the Republicans in November could be the signal to nervous capital investors, wary of the possibility of new regulations and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, to get back in the markets and help produce a recovery that also produces jobs.
"Absolutely, there's no doubt about it. They're afraid. The banks have money to lend but they're not doing it because they're afraid," Posey said.
Gray Rohrer writes this story "special to Sunshine State News." He lives in Satellite Beach.
