Gov. Bill Richardson was one of several potential Democratic presidential candidates who attended an annual gathering of the nation’s most popular liberal bloggers last week.
Richardson addressed the YearlyKos Netroots Convention in Las Vegas, Nev. on Friday, then gave individual interviews to some bloggers.
“I see you guys as agents of advocacy — that’s why I’m here,” Richardson told the group, according to a columnist for the New York Times.
The Times’ columnist wrote that “the blogosphere has become for the left what talk radio has been for the right: a way of organizing and communicating to supporters.”
That’s not true for all of us. I try to stay non-partisan. But most national political blogs are liberally slanted.
Richardson and the other Democrats in attendance at the blogger conference should be commended for recognizing the growing importance and influence of blogs, which are becoming for many more trusted news sources than mainstream media outlets. More Republicans would do well to get on board.
Friday’s travel to Nevada resulted in one of 159 days since he took office that Richardson has been out of the state, according to a Sunday article in the Albuquerque Journal. That might seem like a lot to some, but consider that former Republican Gov. Gary Johnson spent 340 days out of the state during a comparable time period.
Richardson’s travel has been a source of criticism from his opponent in this year’s election, Republican J.R. Damron of Santa Fe, but that criticism lacks merit. During their tenures Richardson and Johnson were both national celebrities who used that influence. It’s good for New Mexico when its governor is interviewed on CNN or Fox News and pushes for national policy change.
There were times Johnson was out of state to participate in sporting events. There are certainly times Richardson is out of state to promote a possible presidential run, but Richardson’s trips don’t seem to be taking an unreasonable amount of time away from state business. President Bush frequently takes long vacations away from the White House.
Who would argue that Richardson’s trip to North Korea with a delegation that included New Mexico State University President Michael Martin wasn’t beneficial to the state and nation?
Though Richardson appears to have survived this political attack from Damron, the news isn’t all good.
Statewide, almost 123,000 Democrats cast votes in last week’s primary election. But only 106,776 of them cast votes for Richardson. Another 744 voted for his write-in opponent, Anselmo Chavez.
So more than 16,000 Democrats were filling out their ballots, came to the gubernatorial race, and consciously decided to not vote for Richardson.
I should point out that about 9,000 Democrats opted not to cast a vote for Jeff Bingaman, who was unopposed in the primary in his bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate. He is fairly popular in his own party.
But there are clearly some Democrats willing to consider voting for Damron in November. Richardson still has work to do.
His campaign is pushing hard to reach Sunland Park voters. With a left-leaning population of more than 13,000, it’s a city where fewer than 100 people voted in the primary.
There’s a fundraiser for Richardson this week at the Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino. Will big-time Republican donor Stan Fulton, the owner of the racetrack, show up?
We’ll have to wait and see on that, but a source tells me that former NMSU Athletics Director Jim Paul requested about 60 tickets to the event. Paul quit his NMSU job to work on President Bush’s 2000 run for the White House.
Apparently there are some Republicans interested in Richardson.