his ability. However, Mathias was showing signs of seeking re-election in 1985, and dismissed any claims of ineffectiveness. Mathias claimed "within a matter of minutes, I can talk to any member of the Cabinet; and I could go see them within 24 hours.... It was no accident that the Chesapeake Bay was mentioned in the President's State of the Union address. That took a lot of hard work". During this term, Mathias was also president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from 1985 to 1986. Despite initial indications otherwise, Mathias announced on September 27, 1985, that he would not seek a fourth term. His announcement concerned Republican party officials in the state, who feared that local Republicans had poorer election chances without Mathias at the top of the ticket. At the national level, Mathias' announcement came shortly after news that Republican Paul Laxalt of Nevada would be retiring as well. The departure of two Republican senators from swing or Democratic-leaning states was treated by Republican party leaders as a poor sign of the party's chances in the upcoming elections. Linda Chavez won the Republican primary for the Senate seat, but lost the general election in a landslide to Mikulski. Mathias remained active in his final days in the Senate, playing an important role in removing a death penalty provision in a 1986 Senate drug bill after threatening filibuster, and in preparing impeachment proceedings against federal judge Harry E. Claiborne. Mathias' last day in the Senate was January 3, 1987, at which point he was succeeded by Mikulski. Mathias and the American Space program Mathias strongly supported the American Space program. The Jimmy Carter administration was fairly inactive on space issues, stating that it was "neither feasible nor necessary" to commit to an Apollo-style space program, and his space policy included only limited, short-range goals. With regard to military space policy, the Carter space policy stated, without much specification in the unclassified version, that "The United States will pursue Activities in space in support of its right of self-defense.". Less than five months after he became president, on the date of June 9, 1977, Carter wrote the following in his White House Diary: "We continued our budget meetings. It's obvious that the space shuttle is just a contrivance to keep NASA alive, and that no real need for the space shuttle was determined before the massive construction program was initiated." On NASA's