{"id":2700,"date":"2008-01-07T08:41:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-07T14:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/guv-is-on-a-high-note-but-not-a-true-contender-in-n-h\/"},"modified":"2008-01-07T08:41:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-07T14:41:00","slug":"guv-is-on-a-high-note-but-not-a-true-contender-in-n-h","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/guv-is-on-a-high-note-but-not-a-true-contender-in-n-h\/","title":{"rendered":"Guv is on a high note but not a true contender in N.H."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Bill Richardson<\/a> on Saturday gave a debate performance a Washington Post blogger said may have been his best. Unfortunately, it won\u2019t help him win the White House at this point. Neither will a second newspaper endorsement the governor picked up over the weekend. <\/p>\n

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

\u201cWill Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s strong performance matter? Probably not,\u201d Chris Cillizza<\/a> wrote. \u201cBut he deserves credit for giving it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s campaign, of course, said it will help. In a news release stating that Richardson<\/st1:city>\u2019s support in New Hampshire<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> is growing, campaign Manager Dave Contarino praised the governor\u2019s debate performance.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cAmericans got to see the four top Democratic candidates clearly define their positions and qualifications, and Bill Richardson was the clear winner,\u201d Contarino said.<\/p>\n

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

My opinion after watching the debate is that Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> was good, but not brilliant. The format helped: He got to talk face-to-face with the other candidates and two debate moderators, and he\u2019s always better in such personal settings. He had a few clever one-liners and appeared serious and knowledgeable on some questions. At other times, he rambled on, starting a new thought before finishing the previous one and then a third thought while many people I spoke with who watched the debate with were still on the first thought.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s most memorable line came while the three frontrunners sparred over the meaning of the word \u201cchange\u201d and which candidate will bring it.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019ve been in hostage negotiations that are a lot more civil than this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

The line drew chuckles. Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> had a second memorable line later in the debate when he attacked Barack Obama<\/a>, Hillary Clinton<\/a> and John Edwards<\/a> while they continued to fight.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThis is the kind of Washington bickering that the public turns off to, and with all due respect, as a governor I\u2019m frustrated every time you guys and the president get nothing done because then the burden\u2019s on my shoulders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

It was a smart way to point to his experience as an executive.<\/p>\n

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

Poll numbers, newspaper endorsements<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The debate will make little difference for the governor. Richardson<\/st1:city>\u2019s Real Clear Politics Average of recent polls in New Hampshire<\/a> today is 5.5 percent, while Edwards is at 18.8 percent, Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is at 29.6 percent and Obama is at 37.4 percent.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> got a second boost on Sunday when the Claremont Eagle Times<\/a> endorsed him over the three frontrunners. The daily newspaper with a circulation of about 10,000 wrote that Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> \u201cis the most qualified candidate in the areas that will matter most to our country over the next four years. \u2026 Democrats have a variety of choices before them Tuesday. None can match Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> was also endorsed recently by the Conway Daily Sun<\/a>. He immediately sought on Sunday to capitalize on the new endorsement by campaigning in Newport<\/a>, where the Eagle Times circulates. And he touted some new endorsements from visible New Hampshire Democrats who supported Chris Dodd<\/a> before the senator dropped his bid last week.<\/p>\n

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

But the newest polls all have Obama surging and the others, including Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, not gaining significant ground. It\u2019s possible that the strong debate performance and the endorsements will give Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> a slight boost when New Hampshire Democrats vote on Tuesday, but it won\u2019t be enough to make him a true contender.<\/p>\n

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

Prospects for another D.C. job<\/span><\/p>\n

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

So the speculation turns to whether Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is gunning for vice president or secretary of state. <\/span>Just before the ABC News debate, George Stephanopoulos reported that the Clinton<\/st1:city> campaign is \u201cfurious\u201d with Richardson<\/st1:city> because it believes he made a deal with Obama in Iowa<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> to send support to the senator in precincts where he wasn\u2019t viable. Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> personally denied on Sunday that such a deal existed, but many politicos believe it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

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

You can read some pointed quotes from a longtime Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> friend by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

During the debate, Obama and Clinton both had kind words for Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, and nobody attacked the fourth-place candidate who isn\u2019t a threat to anybody. If Clinton<\/st1:city> is furious with Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, it wasn\u2019t evident during the debate.<\/p>\n

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

Does that mean Stephanopoulos was wrong, or is it a sign of Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s professionalism? You decide.<\/p>\n

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

Though he has no chance of winning, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is coming into Tuesday\u2019s vote on a high note. Perhaps his goal at this point is to make this respectable and improve his chances for another job in Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill Richardson on Saturday gave a debate performance a Washington Post blogger said may have been his best. Unfortunately, it won\u2019t help him win the White House at this point. Neither will a second newspaper endorsement the governor picked up over the weekend. \u201cWill Richardson\u2019s strong performance matter? Probably not,\u201d Chris Cillizza wrote. \u201cBut he […]<\/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-2700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700","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=2700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}