The Bill Richardson Watch, 3/12/2007

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from THE NEW MEXICAN: http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/58445.html

March 12, 2007

What's with the governor and conservatives? First The New York Times' David Brooks writes a complimentary column, and now Robert Novak chimes in. He writes that Richardson is "becoming a leading vice presidential prospect and an increasingly possible nominee for president." Novak says Richardson still is in the second-tier of Democratic presidential candidates, but has more experience than the top tier.


A Congressional Quarterly article published in The New York Times about energy has U.S. Rep Tom Udall of Santa Fe pushing Richardson's energy record. A Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, John E. Peterson, was complaining that the bush administration didn't do enough to lift a drilling ban on the Outer Continental Shelf. He thinks the next president would do even worse on energy. That's when Udall stepped in last week, saying "I think he's got the experience, and he's got the plan."
http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2007/03/09/cq_2384.html


Meanwhile, Richardson is getting busy at his day job: he'll be signing a cockfighting ban this week, along with a bill that puts more of the lottery 's proceeds into scholarships. Still hanging is a bill to increase the minimum wage across the state and a medical marijuana bill. Read Steve Terrell's blog for all the latest.
http://blogs.freenewmexican.com/terrell


The Washington Post weighs in on Richardson this weekend, with recollections of Richardson from people who knew him across the years (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030901887.html), including Udall, remembering his first race (and loss) against Richardson for Congress. John Sanchez, who ran against Richardson for governor, says that going up against Richardson was "like going up against an MI Abrams tank with a small sword." The article is titled, "with energy to spare." The article is getting buzz around the Internet, as in this post from Centrisity, which calls him "ideal Presidential material."
http://centrisity.blogspot.com/2007/03/richardson-in-wapo.html


From Albuquerque, a fun look at the gov from the Weekly Alibi. It's a take-off on the Operation game, showing Richardson on the operating table, sliced open with his insides exposed.
http://alibi.com/index.php?story=18174&scn=feature


http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree