How much would you do to help your husband keep his job? Would you petition the president?

That’s what Rebecca Griffin, the wife of NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, did.

Rebecca Griffin is e-mail blasting a "Campaign for Mike" message around, asking friends, family and everyone in between to sign an online petition asking President-elect Barack Obama to "consider keeping Mike Griffin on as NASA administrator."

"Dr. Michael Griffin is one of the most technically and managerially competent administrators in NASA’s history," the petition says. "He has brought a sense of order and purpose to the U.S. space agency, guiding decisions in all programs with the firm belief that our strength as a world power is determined in a large part by our preeminence in space, particularly in human spaceflight."

AP says Rebecca Griffin wrote in her e-mail: "Yes, once again I am embarrassing my husband by reaching out to our friends and ‘imposing’ on them … And if this is inappropriate, I’m sorry."

While AP says that the lobbying efforts on those close to Griffin — who has had the job since 2005 — are "unusually bold," there may be a reason for them, and reason to fear Obama may pick his own NASA administrator.

After he was elected, Obama set up various agency review teams for each government agency, whose job it is to interview employees about their respective programs, bosses and funding difficulties. ThinkProgress last month noted that Michael Griffin has put up roadblocks for the NASA review team, headed by former NASA associate administrator Lori Garver. He called her "not qualified" to judge his rocket programs and, after one "heated" conversation, asked to speak directly to the president-elect.

From ThinkProgress:

But even more disturbing is the Orlando Sentinel’s report that Griffin has been muzzling NASA employees from speaking openly to Obama’s review staffers, "scripting" them "on what they can tell the transition team"; he has also reportedly "warned" aerospace executives not to criticize his pet project — NASA’s "delayed but over-budget" moon rocket program.

In early December, the Sentinel detailed the tensions between Mike Griffin and Obama’s agency review team, and reported that Garver told a meeting of aerospace representatives in Washington that "there will be change" to NASA policy and hinted that Obama would name a new administrator soon. 

Mike Griffin’s spokesman said his boss isn’t campaigning to keep his job but would be "honored" to be asked to stay on. He couldn’t speak to what Griffin’s wife was doing.

"A lot of people seem to like and support Mike and think he’s doing a good job," spokesman David Mould told the AP.