More on Bill Richardson

News on Richardson from the Albuquerque Journal

Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Richardson Watch
Albuquerque Journal
By Jeff Jones
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He's running. We're watching.
Keeping tabs on Gov. Bill Richardson as he seeks the Democratic presidential nomination ...

UP IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: A new poll in the early-primary state of New Hampshire has Richardson at 12 percent, a single digit behind third-place candidate John Edwards and six points up from polling done in September.

The CNN/WMUR-TV poll released Tuesday put frontrunner Hillary Clinton at 36 percent, followed by Barack Obama (22 percent) and, if you consider the margin of error, the neck-in-neck Edwards and Richardson.

The TV poll in September had Clinton at 43 percent, Obama at 20 percent, Edwards at 12 percent and Richardson at 6 percent.

Richardson campaign spokesman Tom Reynolds told the Journal the new polling— along with some recent gains in Iowa— shows "clear momentum," adding, "This is exactly when we want to be doing well. We want to peak on Jan. 3 for the (Iowa) caucuses."

GRADING THE DEBATE: For the most part, Richardson's performance during last week's candidate debate in Las Vegas, Nev., drew neither heaps of high praise nor loads of heavy criticism.

Time magazine senior political analyst Mark Halperin gave Richardson a C-plus for his Nov. 15 outing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"Too rehearsed at times, but overall just fine," Halperin wrote on Time.com. "Still trying to distinguish himself as the only governor in the race, but he has trouble pulling it off in the short-answer format."

Halperin added Richardson made some "solid points about policy and his record."

A CYNIC'S VIEW: Salon.com's Washington correspondent Michael Scherer took a decidedly cynical view of the Las Vegas debate.

Here's Scherer's take from about the debate's 22-minute mark, when Richardson finally got a chance to speak:

" 'I'm Bill Richardson. I'm the governor of New Mexico,' says Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico. This is funny because he hasn't been able to speak until now. People laugh. Then Richardson slings mud. Edwards 'wants to start a class war,' he says. Obama 'wants to start a generational war.' And Clinton won't end the war in Iraq. For good measure, Richardson adds, 'You know, let's stop this mudslinging.' ''

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Journal politics writer Jeff Jones

For complete articlehttp://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/263641nm11-21-07.htm

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