True, true. However, that would reduce the payload capacity, because there is a little more maneuvering necessary from KSC and Canaveral than from Vandenberg.

“And then there’s the fact that Elon would be disinclined to put anything new and large into California unless its state government reliably flips to Republican control.”

I’m not sure that it is Republican control, per se, but that California — and especially its legislature — is both anti-business and anti-Musk. Most likely a Republican controlled California would be more favorable, but there was a time when the Democrats were still in favor of business and still appreciative of Musk and SpaceX. But that was before they went insane and lost touch with reality.

I agree with Dick Eagleson’s assessment of the political hostility of California towards Musk. It would not happen and I don’t think it is worth it. I can see the lawsuit costs alone would be the equivalent of two trips to Mars.

The two biggest sticking points for a Starship presence at Vandy are that SpaceX, thus far, is building, or has built, Starship production facilities at its Starship launch sites. Just accommodating a Starship launch facility at Vandy would be a “footprint” challenge. There is no way a third Starfactory could be built on Vandy ground and doing so outside the wire would just invite more harassment from the Coastal Commission. And then there’s the fact that Elon would be disinclined to put anything new and large into California unless its state government reliably flips to Republican control. There is a modest possibility of a Republican taking the Governorship next year, but the Dems have supermajorities in both houses of the CA state legislature and are likely to keep such in at least one house even if we get a Republican Governor.