Dendahl goes on attack during TV interview

Republican gubernatorial candidate John Dendahl used his half-hour interview with the news anchors for KOB-TV in Albuquerque to trash Gov. Bill Richardson, the commuter rail and public funding of the spaceport Tuesday night, according to news accounts.

Democratic congressional candidate Al Kissling received hardly a mention in the media, so I can’t tell you a thing about his time.

Both got free air time after their opponents refused to debate.

Dendahl, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican, thanked KOB for the airtime, to which anchor Carla Aragon said, “It’s a service to the voters,” contrasting statements by the Richardson campaign that a debate that included Dendahl airtime would “tear down New Mexico” and be a “disservice to the voters.”

Dendahl took a shot at Richardson’s refusal to debate, according to the newspaper.

“I thought that someone who has held public office basically since 1982 would want to debate someone like me who has never held elective office,” Dendahl said, adding that he thinks Richardson won’t debate him because he doesn’t want 2008 presidential opponents to have the video to use in commercials.

“He’s not particularly a good debater,” Dendahl said, according to the newspaper.

You can read the rest of the article by clicking here. It includes a response from Richardson’s campaign manager, Amanda Cooper, but I’m not going to use any of her response here. If she wanted time to respond, she should have put her candidate in the debate.

Joe Monahan said Dendahl was tripped up when asked about his past support for legalizing drugs. Dendahl said he is on the record as saying legalization needs to be discussed, but added that position is “not part of my campaign.”

“But the proverbial cat was out of the bag and the confident candidate for a moment looked sheepish and uncertain,” Monahan wrote.

Dendahl was once an attack dog as the chair of the state GOP, but says he is different as a candidate. Noting that he attacked the governor several times, Monahan said Dendahl didn’t convey that difference.

Monahan wrote that Dendahl’s “reluctance, or inability, to put forth a comprehensive agenda capped his appeal and left the ‘old’ Dendahl image more noticeable than he may have liked.”