Fighting Over the Freeze

John McCain has made a pledge to freeze non-defense, non-veterans discretionary spending for a year a centerpiece of his government reform platform. Now Barack Obama is trying to use that pledge against him.

National Journal's Ad Spotlight notes that Obama is running radio ads in Florida saying the proposal would stall NASA spending -- a sore subject in the Sunshine State.

Here's Ad Spotlight's description of the ad -- and McCain's response:

McCain "wants to freeze NASA spending at last year's level," says Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., in the ad. "So layoffs would loom larger, and NASA would continue to be starved of funds for future exploration."

For his part, McCain visited the state Friday and promised $2 billion in additional funding for the space agency, arguing that Obama is the one who would cut NASA's budget. The Democrat once proposed delaying the Constellation program, which would return humans to the moon, to pay for his education plan.