{"id":2110,"date":"2007-08-16T10:53:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-16T16:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/richardson-climbs-edwards-falls-in-florida\/"},"modified":"2007-08-16T10:53:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-16T16:53:00","slug":"richardson-climbs-edwards-falls-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/richardson-climbs-edwards-falls-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson climbs, Edwards falls in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> is climbing and John Edwards<\/a> is falling in the newest Florida<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> poll. <\/p>\n

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

In the new poll by Strategic Vision<\/a>, conducted Friday-Sunday and released today, Hillary Clinton<\/a> leads with 40 percent in Florida, Barack Obama<\/a> has 20 percent, Edwards has 16 percent and Richardson has 9 percent.<\/p>\n

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

The larger poll of 1,200 likely voters, which quizzed Democrats and Republicans, has a margin of error of 3 percent. The margin of error for the questions asked only of Democrats isn\u2019t included.<\/p>\n

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

No other candidate has more than 3 percent in the new poll, and 10 percent remain undecided.<\/p>\n

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

For Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, it\u2019s a gain of 5 percent from the group\u2019s June poll<\/a>. It\u2019s a loss of 4 percent for Edwards, while Obama has gained 1 percent and Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has climbed 3 percent.<\/p>\n

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

Florida<\/st1:state> is scheduled to hold its Democratic primary on Jan. 29, the same day as South Carolina<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> under the current but fluid schedule.<\/p>\n

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

In a Mason-Dixon poll<\/a> conducted in late July, Clinton<\/st1:city> was at 31 percent in Florida<\/st1:state>, Obama was at 17 percent, Edwards was at 12 percent and Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> was at 4 percent. The newest poll is the first to show Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> gaining any significant ground in that state. Richardson<\/st1:city> hasn\u2019t spent any time in Florida<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> recently.<\/p>\n

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

\u2018Groggy guv?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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

But he has been making some mistakes recently. I\u2019ve written a lot about Richardson<\/st1:city>\u2019s \u2018choice\u2019 gaffe at last week\u2019s gay-rights forum in Los Angeles<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a> draws attention to another mistake and questions whether the governor is wearing himself too thin.<\/p>\n

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

He notes that Richardson, while trying to explain his \u2018choice\u2019 answer on a Friday talk show, was asked whether he agrees with a statement by another candidate that \u201clove between a man and a man is beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> did agree.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI think that gay relationships are human decency, they\u2019re love, they promote families. I\u2019m for gay adoption. I think it\u2019s very healthy because there are millions of kids in this country that have no homes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Then the snafu.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019m for gays having relationships with undocumented workers, and I\u2019ve always felt that way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Huh?<\/p>\n

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

He also said \u201cI\u2019ve been a Hispanic,\u201d but then caught himself and said, \u201cI am Hispanic.\u201d You can hear it all by clicking here<\/a> and then, in the window that opens, clicking on the clip labeled \u201cGay relationships are love.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cOne has to sympathize somewhat with Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> in one respect. Most of us puny mortals would crumble if we tried to keep up with the schedule to which Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is subjecting himself,\u201d Terrell wrote. \u201cStill it raises the question: Is Richardson \u2014 whose public-relations staff for years have used the word tireless to describe him \u2014 flirting with exhaustion from the endless campaign? Would this explain the isolated non sequiturs in his public appearances, such as his unexplained reference to \u2018OSHA protections\u2019 in a recent debate when he was asked what he\u2019d do to prevent factories from shutting down?\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Kate Nash of the Albuquerque Tribune also examined the issue today in an article headlined, \u201cGroggy guv tripping up on the trail.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:city>\u2019s campaign spokesman told Nash that the governor \u201chas never required much sleep\u201d and is getting what he needs, even though Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> explained the \u2018choice\u2019 gaffe by saying he was tired from a cross-country flight.<\/p>\n

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

It seems to me that Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is doing what he\u2019s done all his life: He\u2019s winging it. Impromptu appearances, less preparation than other candidates. I think he is a bit sleep-deprived (how could you not be on such a grueling schedule?) but so are the other candidates. They\u2019re making up for it with good preparation. Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> is not.<\/p>\n

\n

Grassroots campaigning<\/span><\/p>\n

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

He\u2019s instead focusing his time on shaking every hand, on grassroots campaigning. It\u2019s his passion and his gift. There\u2019s no indication that he plans to cut back anytime soon to spend more time preparing for debates and media interviews.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>\u2019s campaign has released a video that shows some of his face-to-face magic during his visit this week to the Iowa State Fair. It\u2019s at the end of this posting.<\/p>\n

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

One more note. Richardson<\/st1:city> has agreed to take part in a forum in Nevada<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> to be held Wednesday, according to the Las Vegas Sun<\/a>. Thus far, the only other candidate who has said he\u2019ll attend, at this late date, is Joe Biden<\/a>. I\u2019ve already written about Edwards pulling some staff and attention away from Nevada<\/st1:state>, but what about Clinton<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> and Obama?<\/p>\n

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

Here\u2019s the Iowa<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> video:<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Bill Richardson is climbing and John Edwards is falling in the newest Florida poll. In the new poll by Strategic Vision, conducted Friday-Sunday and released today, Hillary Clinton leads with 40 percent in Florida, Barack Obama has 20 percent, Edwards has 16 percent and Richardson has 9 percent. The larger poll of 1,200 likely […]<\/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-2110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2110","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=2110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}