{"id":2289,"date":"2007-09-26T14:51:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-26T20:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/richardson-insists-he-wont-run-against-domenici\/"},"modified":"2007-09-26T14:51:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-26T20:51:00","slug":"richardson-insists-he-wont-run-against-domenici","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/richardson-insists-he-wont-run-against-domenici\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson insists he won’t run against Domenici"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The day after a new poll showed U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici\u2019s<\/a> approval rating falling to 41 percent, Bill Richardson\u2019s<\/a> presidential campaign made its strongest statement yet that the governor isn\u2019t interested in running against the state\u2019s senior senator next year. <\/p>\n

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

\n

\u201cThe governor is running to be the next president of the U.S.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>,\u201d spokesman Pahl Shipley wrote today in an e-mail. \u201cWith Congress, been there, done that. Not interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> spent 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

\n

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

Shipley\u2019s comments come the day after the new SurveyUSA poll<\/a> had the GOP senator\u2019s support dropping 11 points since August and below 50 percent for the first time in the history of the poll<\/a> that began in May 2005.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>The news excited Washington Democratic insiders, as many in the nation\u2019s capitol already had Domenici on the list of those most likely to lose their seats next year. But Domenici has yet to draw a well-known Democratic challenger.<\/p>\n

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

The ongoing U.S. attorney scandal<\/a> and attacks from the left for failing to support an immediate withdrawal from Iraq<\/a> and new renewable energy standards<\/a> have caused Domenici\u2019s support in the poll to drop 27 points in the last 10 months, and the news could get worse: The newest poll was conducted just before Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington<\/a> listed Domenici as one of the 22 most corrupt members of Congress<\/a> for his role in the U.S. attorney scandal.<\/p>\n

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

The governor recently told the Associated Press<\/a> that the idea he might get out of the presidential race and in to the Senate race was \u201cwishful thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

But the rumors persist, and many Democrats in Washington<\/st1:state> and New Mexico<\/st1:state>, believing Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has no chance at the presidency, are pushing hard for him to consider the Senate race. Many speculate that he could transfer money to a Senate campaign from his presidential campaign in February, if he loses the early primaries.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:city> has said he\u2019ll remain governor of New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> if he loses the presidential race, but Shipley\u2019s comments are the strongest yet that the governor isn\u2019t interested in a race against Domenici.<\/p>\n

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

Domenici\u2019s opponents aren\u2019t surprised by drop<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The three Democrats who are vying for the right to take on Domenici next year said they aren\u2019t surprised by the newest drop in his approval rating.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cFolks are upset because Pete Domenici has been saying one thing in New Mexico<\/st1:state> but voting another way in Washington<\/st1:state>,\u201d said Don Wiviott<\/a>, a Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> developer who has pledged $400,000 of his own money for the race. \u201cBut the number that really matters is that Pete has voted 99 percent of the time in support of George Bush. It\u2019s time for new leadership and it\u2019s time to listen to New Mexicans and end this war.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Jim Hannan<\/a>, another Democrat who wants Domenici\u2019s seat, has been running newspaper advertisements in Albuquerque<\/st1:city>, Las Cruces<\/st1:city> and Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> for months highlighting Domenici\u2019s voting record.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cFor the first time in many years, the Pete Domenici voting record has been presented to the citizens of New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>. It\u2019s clear that my campaign is having an effect,\u201d Hannan said. \u201c\u2026 Since (approval for) George W. Bush is at about 25 percent, and Pete has supported Bush on everything, it\u2019s clear that his numbers will continue to decline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leland Lehrman<\/a>, the third Democrat in the race, said he \u201ccan\u2019t celebrate the collapse of a senator\u2019s reputation,\u201d but said Domenici\u2019s falling approval rating reflects \u201ca hopeful trend\u201d in the United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> and world.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe senator\u2019s serial advocacy of war, nuclear weapons, nuclear energy and corrupt partisan politics have earned him these dismal approval ratings as well as the inclusion on the 22 most corrupt senators list,\u201d he said. \u201cAt last, the light at the end of the tunnel is beginning to grow stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The day after a new poll showed U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici\u2019s approval rating falling to 41 percent, Bill Richardson\u2019s presidential campaign made its strongest statement yet that the governor isn\u2019t interested in running against the state\u2019s senior senator next year. \u201cThe governor is running to be the next president of the U.S.,\u201d spokesman Pahl Shipley […]<\/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-2289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2289","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=2289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2289\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}