Speaking in Florida moments ago, Newt Gingrich pledged to have a permanent US base on the moon by the end of his second term as president.
Speaking for myself, that sounds awesome. But I have to assume Team Romney will grab on to that and mock him like crazy. I don’t care how public/private you make it. The budgetary toll of a project like that would have to be massive. And I don’t think there are any strong near term business models for doing stuff on the moon.