{"id":1069,"date":"2007-01-08T12:16:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-08T18:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/denish-plans-to-run-for-governor-in-2010\/"},"modified":"2007-01-08T12:16:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-08T18:16:00","slug":"denish-plans-to-run-for-governor-in-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/denish-plans-to-run-for-governor-in-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"Denish plans to run for governor in 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Lieutenant Gov. Diane Denish plans to run for governor in 2010, she confirmed in an article published this weekend in the Albuquerque Tribune<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI am going to run in 2010, God willing and barring anything that would prevent me,\u201d the newspaper quoted her as saying. \u201cI think the voters are ready (for a female governor). I think what they really want is someone who is committed to New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that Denish could take control of the executive branch sooner if Gov. Bill Richardson is successful in a 2008 presidential run or takes another post in a new Democratic administration in Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> in 2009.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> told the Tribune that Denish is ready to lead the state.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think she needs any grooming. She\u2019d be ready to step in if she had to,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s very diverse, very strong in a lot of areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Were there any doubt about Denish\u2019s capabilities, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> told the newspaper he has asked her to lead the charge for his \u201cYear of Water\u201d agenda. He\u2019s proposing spending more than $100 million on water projects, in addition to making policy changes.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a chance for Denish to prove herself, but it\u2019s also a revealing sign about Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s future plans. Not only is he in Africa the week before the start of the session and South Carolina the weekend before, but he plans to have Denish push his most critical agenda items for him this year, most likely because he will be less involved as he begins a run for president.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Many state senators will tell you they\u2019ve dealt with Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> more often than Denish in the past.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

If Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> leaves the office early, it will likely be a smooth, gradual transition beginning with Denish\u2019s involvement in the Legislature this month. Even if Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is unsuccessful in a White House run, Denish will do much of the governing for the next two years if he runs for president.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Coupled with Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s immense popularity, that would give Denish the advantage in what may be a crowded 2010 Democratic primary. As long as she didn\u2019t become involved in a major scandal and continued many of Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s policies, Denish would be seen by voters as a continuation of a popular administration.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That could hamper the potential gubernatorial plans of other Democratic hopefuls. Those mentioned as possible candidates thus far include Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, Attorney General Gary King, former Attorney General Patricia Madrid and State Rep. Joseph Cervantes.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Though she has been more active than many past lieutenant governors, Denish\u2019s current biggest weakness is that voters outside of Santa Fe<\/st1:city> and Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> haven\u2019t often seen her in action. The lieutenant governor isn\u2019t very powerful, and Denish hasn\u2019t had a lot of opportunity to showcase her abilities on a statewide level.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

If Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> runs for president as expected, that\u2019s about to change. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lieutenant Gov. Diane Denish plans to run for governor in 2010, she confirmed in an article published this weekend in the Albuquerque Tribune. \u201cI am going to run in 2010, God willing and barring anything that would prevent me,\u201d the newspaper quoted her as saying. \u201cI think the voters are ready (for a female governor). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}