Re: Huh?
My reasoning for a "moon first, mars later" approach has less to do with distance and travel time and more to with safety and technological development.
As we recently learned with Columbia, there are a myriad of unexpected circumstances which might threaten the success and safety of a trip to Mars. If a disaster befell such an excursion, it would be decades before we were able to make another attempt.
A "moon first" approach will allow our astronauts to train with and test the technology and techniques needed for an excursion to Mars. It will have a lot more value to Mars exploration than a buch of astronaut wannabes running around a plywood "habitat" in canvas suits.