Inside the Beltway

Alex Moll of the National Issues Forum and Bill Corbett of the Center for Voter Deliberation of Northern Virginia will moderate. Haiku and iambic pentameter, presumably, are welcome.

SPACE PACER

Stephen Colbert has at last achieved lofty fame. Well, at least he’d like to think so. A treadmill waggishly named after the comedian will rocket into the heavens aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in about 24 hours. Mr. Colbert, in fact, will deliver a personal message to astronauts about 7:15 p.m. Monday via NASA television.

Is he urging the crew on, or applauding its tenacity? Let’s hope so. But Mr. Colbert is more likely to crow about the snappy new COLBERT treadmill soon to be delivered to the International Space Station. Oh. ‘Scuse us. The acronym stands for Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill. For weeks, Mr. Colbert, the host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” urged his viewers to suggest that NASA name something, anything after him. NASA graciously responded by offering the treadmill, and even designed an official commemorative patch for the phenomenon.

It will be the second treadmill in space, presenting an aspect that offers some unintended irony, perhaps.

“COLBERT is louder than the first treadmill,” NASA noted in a recent, serious evaluation.

The Discovery is set to launch at 1:36 a.m. Tuesday.

POLL DU JOUR

• 59 percent of Americans are more likely to buy an item marked “Made in America.”

• 37 percent feel neutral about the designation.

• 79 percent have made cuts in their personal spending owing to the economy.

• 21 percent did not make any cuts.

• 4 percent have increased their spending “to what it was.”

Source: An Adweek/Harris Poll of 2,066 adults conducted July 15-17.

• Big announcements, tattles, intergalactic messages to jharper@washingtontimes.com or 202/636-3085.