More Politics Surrounding NASA Pick

Democratic U. S. Senator from Florida Bill Nelson has weighed in on Scott Gration as NASA chief. Nelson, who chairs the Senate subcommittee that has oversight responsibility for NASA, believes the administrator should have a background in NASA. Gration has virtually none.

Obama advisors counter by saying Gration helped write the campaign's space policy statement, released last August. They argue that statement, which, among other things affirmed the goal of returning American astronauts to the Moon by 2020, was the most comprehensive space policy yet released by a presidential candidate.

This political dance, of course, is par for the course, as much about power and influence as about who runs NASA. There's no reason to think, however, that it won't be over soon.