McCain Discusses Columbia Disaster and Reelection Run

WOODRUFF: Israel is paying tribute to its first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died in the space shuttle Columbia tragedy. Ramon's body arrived home today to a somber ceremony. Israeli leaders are calling him a national hero. Ramon and six American astronauts were killed nine days ago when the shuttle broke up in the atmosphere before a scheduled landing in Florida. Today, the investigation is moving forward. The NASA-appointed board conducting the probe is meeting with engineers at the Johnson Space Center.

Well, later this week, Senator John McCain's committee takes up the space shuttle Columbia tragedy. In my interview with the senator a little while ago, he talked about the tragedy and the future of space exploration. I began by asking him if he is concerned about whether safety was put on the back burner in any way because of budget constraints.

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MCCAIN: I think that has to be one of the first questions that needs to be asked. I keep hearing from experts that there's no evidence of that, but there have been those allegations and that has to be addressed.

Judy, I think two things have to be done. One, find out the cause of the tragedy and what you need to fix it. Two, what is our policy as far as U.S. involvement in the exploration of space? I know of no one who says we're going to abandon that. But there are certainly serious policy questions like what's the role of unmanned space exploration? What's the future of the shuttle? What's the future of the space station? How much is it going to cost? And this is probably a long overdue policy debate that needs to be addressed.

WOODRUFF: Do you believe that there needs to be a serious look now at whether unmanned space exploration is the way to go for the time being?

MCCAIN: I think that we have to look at the viability of unmanned space exploration, but I think there will always be a role for manned space exploration. It just depends on what the division of labor is here. There's a certain romanticism associated with exploration of space, which is why one of the major factors why we'll continue. I'm not sure we'll ever get our money back for what we've done in the past or will do in the future, but unmanned space exploration is an issue that needs to be addressed. And in my initial view, probably needs to be expanded.

WOODRUFF: Senator, broader question about you. You're involved in so many -- probably every important issue we can think of these days. You were just at this conference in Europe looking at European/U.S. relations, Iraq, NASA, the economy, tax questions. How do you see your role right now, broadly?

MCCAIN: I see my role as a person who has had an opportunity over the years to gain knowledge of these issues, and, therefore, some credibility, including national security issues. I think, also, that I have a certain national constituency that I bring with me to these issues because of my credibility. And I also believe that many of these issues cannot be resolved strictly along party lines. You're going to have to -- with 51/49 lineup in the Senate, you're going to have to build coalitions.

WOODRUFF: Why do you think virtually every one of the Democrats running for president wants to associate himself with you as closely as possible?

MCCAIN: Well, there's a certain group of voters in New Hampshire who probably would like to see the kind of a straight talk campaign that we waged in New Hampshire in the year 2000, but I think a lot of that is exaggerated. Particularly, the voters of New Hampshire will judge candidates on how they view them, not any association they might have with me. But I'm flattered.

WOODRUFF: Your Senate seat is up next year, in 2004. Already, a conservative group called the Club for Growth, which is not happy that you've criticized the president's tax cuts and other things, are thinking -- are trying to lure another Republican to run against you in the primary. Are you definitely going to run for reelection?

MCCAIN: Oh, I most likely will run for reelection. I haven't made the final decision yet. And I have to tell you, I'm not too concerned about the Club for Growth that practices everything I am opposed to as far as campaign financing is concerned, pouring millions of dollars of soft money into campaigns. So I'm really not concerned about them.

WOODRUFF: But you're -- you said most likely to run?

MCCAIN: Yes.

WOODRUFF: All right. Senator -- you're not ready to say for sure?

MCCAIN: Not yet, no.