{"id":1348,"date":"2007-03-05T12:36:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-05T18:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/in-iowa-richardson-continues-pledge-to-focus-on-first-four-primary-states-and-grassroots-campaigning\/"},"modified":"2007-03-05T12:36:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-05T18:36:00","slug":"in-iowa-richardson-continues-pledge-to-focus-on-first-four-primary-states-and-grassroots-campaigning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/in-iowa-richardson-continues-pledge-to-focus-on-first-four-primary-states-and-grassroots-campaigning\/","title":{"rendered":"In Iowa, Richardson continues pledge to focus on first four primary states and grassroots campaigning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>During a visit to Iowa<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> this weekend, Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> said the first four primary contests will decide who becomes the Democratic Party\u2019s 2008 nominee for president, the Associated Press<\/a> is reporting. <\/p>\n

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

Those are contests held in January in Iowa<\/st1:state>, Nevada<\/st1:state>, New Hampshire<\/st1:state> and South Carolina<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s statements buck the thinking of many that other, larger states will be more important in the selection process. California<\/st1:state>, Florida<\/st1:state>, New Jersey<\/st1:state>, Illinois<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> and other states are considering moving their primaries all up to the same day in early February, and many campaigns are remaking their strategies to shift resources to those larger states that include more influential media markets.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson, who was instrumental in getting the Democratic National Committee to move up Nevada<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>\u2019s contest to January, says he\u2019s sticking to his four-state strategy and a pledge to run a grassroots campaign win with fewer resources than the better-funded candidates.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI believe the first four states, with Iowa<\/st1:state> and New Hampshire<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> being the top ones, will determine who the president is. I always felt that way,\u201d the Associated Press quoted Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> as saying. \u201cI have my own plan to convince the voters I\u2019m the best candidate. It\u2019s called grassroots campaigning. You know, debates, issues and discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWhat the pundits say about who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out, who\u2019s got the most money doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> told the news service. \u201cI have a sustained plan to introduce myself to the voters\u2026 and so far I feel very satisfied. I feel I can do very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

He should. New York<\/st1:state> Times columnist David Brooks wrote this weekend<\/a> (subscription required) that Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> \u201cis the candidate most likely to rise\u201d because of his unique combination of experience, executive leadership and charisma.<\/p>\n

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

More importantly, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> appears to be gaining in the polls against the other Democratic candidates. He started out at about 1 percent in mid-January. Several polls have placed him at roughly 3-5 percent in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

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

An ABC News\/Washington Post poll<\/a> released last week shows him at three percent in the Democratic primary race. The same poll had him at 1 percent in January.<\/p>\n

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

A Los Angeles Times poll<\/a> of party insiders released Saturday found that Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has the backing of 9 percent \u2013 not too far behind Al Gore\u2019s 10 percent, Barack Obama\u2019s 11 percent, John Edwards\u2019 15 percent and Hillary Clinton\u2019s 20 percent.<\/p>\n

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

The numbers may look puny, and they are, but they also show what appears to be the beginning of a climb, at least in the field of Democratic candidates.<\/p>\n

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

Against Republicans, the numbers aren\u2019t currently so encouraging. Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> actually dropped in the latest Rasmussen Reports poll<\/a> in potential match ups against John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. In the poll released Friday, he trailed Giuliani 52-35 percent and McCain 45-36 percent.<\/p>\n

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

In January, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> trailed Giuliani 49-34 percent and McCain 43-39 percent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During a visit to Iowa this weekend, Gov. Bill Richardson said the first four primary contests will decide who becomes the Democratic Party\u2019s 2008 nominee for president, the Associated Press is reporting. Those are contests held in January in Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Richardson\u2019s statements buck the thinking of many that other, […]<\/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-1348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348","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=1348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}