Kilmer has been registered in NM but hasn’t voted

Actor Val Kilmer may be considering running for governor of New Mexico, but he hasn’t ever voted in the state and isn’t registered in the county in which he currently lives, The Associated Press is reporting.

Kilmer registered to vote as an independent in Santa Fe County in 1992, the news service reported. He once owned property there, but he sold it in 2005. For years he has owned and lived on a ranch near Pecos in San Miguel County, but he has not switched his voter registration to that county.

Kilmer has said he was thinking about running for governor, and a recent report from The Politico suggested he’s considering a 2010 run. His agent declined to talk with The Associated Press about the situation. No independent has ever been elected governor of New Mexico.

Gov. Bill Richardson gave attention to the situation this week when he told journalists that he liked the idea of Kilmer running for governor.

“Val Kilmer is a New Mexican. He was Batman. You know there have been successful actors going into politics,” Richardson said. “I haven’t talked to him about it. I don’t know how serious he is, but you know if he jumps in a race he’s got name ID, so it can’t be discounted.”

Richardson’s comments created a stir because Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who like Richardson is a Democrat, has been raising money for the 2010 race for some time and is poised to become governor sooner than that if Richardson leaves to take a job in a potential Barack Obama administration in Washington next year.

Richardson and Denish have been at odds over a host of issues. But Richardson was quoted by the Albuquerque Journal as saying that it’s “too early” to make endorsements and his comments about Kilmer should not be interpreted as support for a potential gubernatorial run by the actor.

Richardson also said he holds Denish in high regard.

Denish told the Journal that Richardson’s comments didn’t bother her.

“There’s a lot of speculation about 2010. But what I’m doing, and what I think everyone should be doing, is working on 2008,” the Journal quoted Denish as saying. “I’m not going to speculate on what the governor thinks.”