{"id":1639,"date":"2007-04-26T10:50:00","date_gmt":"2007-04-26T16:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/04\/richardson-must-shine-during-tonights-debate\/"},"modified":"2007-04-26T10:50:00","modified_gmt":"2007-04-26T16:50:00","slug":"richardson-must-shine-during-tonights-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/04\/richardson-must-shine-during-tonights-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson must shine during tonight’s debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s common for candidates to downplay their own abilities and raise expectations for opponents in advance of political debates. That allows them to declare victory when they show well. <\/p>\n

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

For tonight\u2019s 2008 presidential Democratic primary debate at South Carolina<\/st1:placename> State<\/st1:placetype> University<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>, a number of candidates are doing just that.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019ve just got to make sure I don\u2019t trip walking on the stage,\u201d Delaware Sen. Joe Biden<\/a> told the Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIt takes me 60 seconds to clear my throat,\u201d Illinois Sen. Barack Obama<\/a> said, referring to the amount of time each candidate has to respond to questions.<\/p>\n

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

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> is taking a different approach: He\u2019s raising the expectations for himself in advance of the first of several planned debates.<\/p>\n

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

It\u2019s exactly what he has to do if he hopes to begin gaining in the polls. The charismatic, energetic Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is running a grassroots campaign based on the fact that he has more diverse experience than the other candidates. He\u2019s said all along that he\u2019s by far the most qualified of the eight Democrats seeking the party\u2019s 2008 nomination.<\/p>\n

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

If he\u2019s right, tonight is the night to prove it. He should run circles around the younger and less-experienced Obama. He should outmaneuver the less-charismatic Hillary Clinton<\/a>. He should come across as more personable and likeable than the always-smiling John Edwards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

So he has no choice in advance of tonight\u2019s debate but to raise the expectations, which he did in a news release Wednesday evening. He urged Americans to watch the debate, saying it will help move the campaign from a media popularity contest to an honest discussion about issues and experience.<\/p>\n

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

<\/span>\u201cThis will be the first chance for Americans to see all of the Democratic candidates together and to see who is the most qualified and best prepared to be president on day one,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201cWe won\u2019t be debating the poll numbers; we\u2019ll be debating and stating our opinion on real issues, and people will see a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:city> then touted his platform: that he would \u201cget our troops out of Iraq<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>,\u201d that he believes \u201cwe can provide universal health coverage for all Americans without raising taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThey\u2019ll see how I plan to help the American middle-class prosper, and how I believe we can improve our schools and give every child the opportunity to go to college or vocational school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said this is \u201cthe brightest field of Democratic candidates ever.\u201d But he also plans to be king of the mountain.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has promised the moon, and tonight is the night he has to deliver it.<\/p>\n

\n

Voters in key states will be watching<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The Richardson<\/st1:city> campaign has been running commercials \u2013 the first of any Democratic candidate \u2013 this week in Iowa<\/st1:state> and New Hampshire<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. He has, for the first time, the attention of many Democrats in those states, who are now curious and want to know more about him. He has the attention of those in South Carolina<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, where tonight\u2019s debate will be held.<\/p>\n

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

Those are three of the four early primary states upon which Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is staking his campaign. He has the opportunity tonight to sell himself and, if he does it, this is when he should start gaining in the polls.<\/p>\n

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

But it\u2019s also a night that he has to prove his candidacy should be taken seriously. With voters in those three states paying close attention, a poor showing could be disastrous.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> certainly has the potential to shine above everyone else. He\u2019s done it before. But he also, at times, appears distracted and uninterested during public events. Which Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> will show up tonight?<\/p>\n

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

He\u2019s spending the entire day prepping for tonight\u2019s debate. I\u2019ve been saying all along I expect him to gain in the polls. I think he\u2019ll shine tonight.<\/p>\n

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

The 90-minute debate begins at 5 p.m. New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> time. It will be broadcast live on MSNBC, which in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is cable channel 64. It will also be broadcast live on the network\u2019s Web site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

Check back here following the debate for analysis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s common for candidates to downplay their own abilities and raise expectations for opponents in advance of political debates. That allows them to declare victory when they show well. For tonight\u2019s 2008 presidential Democratic primary debate at South Carolina State University, a number of candidates are doing just that. \u201cI\u2019ve just got to make sure […]<\/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-1639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639","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=1639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}