Washington Post: “This Couple Gives Each Other Space”

“This Couple Gives Each Other Space”
From the Washington Post’s “Reliable Source” Column

By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts
Friday, July 7, 2006

Gabrielle Giffords has a boyfriend who’s out of this world — 220 miles, to be exact.

Giffords, a candidate for Arizona’s 8th District congressional seat, is dating Mark Kelly, the pilot on the space shuttle Discovery. She was at the July 4 launch, picked one of the wake-up songs (U2’s “Beautiful Day”) for the 12-day mission, and will be there when the shuttle returns to Earth. “I’ve just never been as proud to be an American,” Giffords said from the campaign trail yesterday.

The two met three years ago in China; both were young fellows selected by the National Committee on United States-China Relations. Giffords, 36, served five years in the Arizona House and Senate before launching her bid for the open seat held by GOP Rep. Jim Kolbe for 22 years. Kelly, 42, is a Navy fighter pilot and Desert Storm vet and was on the Endeavour shuttle mission in 2001.

They started their long-distance romance 18 months ago — she lives in Tucson; Kelly, a divorced father of two young daughters, lives in Houston. Last Thanksgiving they were hiking in Sedona when Giffords found 26 messages on her cellphone announcing Kolbe’s retirement and urging her to run. “Mark and I sat down and had a long talk about it,” she said. “One of the reasons I love him so much is that he’s very supportive of my passion for public service. He strongly encouraged me to run.”

The Democrat looks strong but faces a six-person primary in September. Kelly, an independent, has made a few appearances with her as a private citizen. “He can’t endorse me. He doesn’t wear his spacesuit,” she said. Nonetheless, “people get very excited.”

She flew back to Arizona after the launch but hopes to talk to Kelly on the space station phone this week. He’s carrying a tiny desert landscape, her mother’s class ring and a ring of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler into space with him. (They’re pals.) In the meantime, she’s sending e-mails and has NASA’s streaming video on the corner of her computer screen. “I’m very proud of him,” she says.

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