Gingrich links Wright Bros. with his space plans

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By Daniel Malloy

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

DAYTON, Ohio – Newt Gingrich, historian, took a brief detour from the presidential campaign trail today to tour the home of aviation pioneer Orville Wright as he used the Wright Brothers’ story to underscore his space exploration plans.

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Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and his wife, Callista, visit Hawthorn Hill, the home of pioneer of flight Orville Wright Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, in Dayton, Ohio.

Evan Vucci, AP Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and his wife, Callista, visit Hawthorn Hill, the home of pioneer of flight Orville Wright Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, in Dayton, Ohio.

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Gingrich’s Ohio swing Tuesday included stops in Cincinnati and Dayton, with a rally planned for Tuesday evening in Columbus.

While in Dayton, he stopped off at the mansion where Orville Wright lived for 35 years, peppering his tour guides with questions about the details of the Wrights' lives and work.

The Wright Brothers’ rise from bicycle mechanics to world renowned inventors – without the assistance, Gingrich notes, of government funding – has become a part of his stump speech. Gingrich told a crowd of several hundred in Dayton that their story “captures what entrepreneurial pro-growth conservatism is about.”

Gingrich argues the same can be said of his space plans.

Campaigning in Florida last month, Gingrich detailed his plans for a moon colony in a speech near Cape Canaveral that was widely lampooned by his opponents and the media – including a Saturday Night Live sketch: “Newt Gingrich, Moon President.”

The Republican criticism has been aimed at the cost, though Gingrich said his plan will not increase NASA's budget. He said he plans to reorganize the agency to cut bureaucracy and give out prize money to private entrepreneurs who come up with innovations.

“My Republican competitors instinctively decide we couldn’t go into space because they’re cheap and they have no idea how technology works … they think in narrow little boxes like government,” he said.

Gingrich envisions “a newly revamped, a newly redesigned NASA. A NASA whose job is to arouse and empower the American people, to encourage adventurers, to encourage entrepreneurs, to encourage bicycle mechanics.”

Gingrich’s tour of Ohio – not to mention the space dreams – are off the beaten path of the GOP primary race, as three states vote today: Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri. Gingrich is not expected to do well in any of the states and does not have a traditional election night address planned, though a spokesman said Gingrich will appear on CNN around 8 p.m. to discuss the day’s results.

The Gingrich campaign is downplaying the three states, as Minnesota’s and Colorado’s caucuses are non-binding for the state’s delegates – they are determined at later meetings and conventions – while Missouri’s primary is no more than a “beauty contest” ahead of the state’s caucus next month.

Ohio votes March 6 along with Georgia and several other states on what is known as Super Tuesday.