Gov. Bill Richardson: Not a detail type of guy

Perhaps it's best for the Republic that Bill Richardson's presidential campaign flamed out. And had he defied the odds and gotten on a path to the White House, he apparently would have needed to pick a running mate who excelled at mind-reading.

The New Mexico governor left his home state last weekend on a short trip that included a stop in Kentucky to promote the candidate he has endorsed since exiting the presidential race, Barack Obama (Richardson did part of his stumping at the Kentucky Derby -- nice work, if you can get it).

One little problem -- Richardson neglected to tell his lieutenant governor, Diane Denish, a fellow Democrat, about his travel plans.

"I don't take it personally," she told the Albuquerque Journal. "He just doesn't want to publicize that he's out of state."

But, she added, "I think it would have been better if I were notified" -- in part because a section of the Manzano Mountains happened to be ablaze and she would have asked for a steadier flow of information about the fire.

A Richardson aide insisted no harm, no foul. "The governor is still the governor when he's out of state. He's still making decisions," Gilbert Gallegos told the Journal.

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[BJ]

Bill Richardson is a joke, to put it kindly, and we are glad to be rid of this opportunist.

[N.E. BodybutHillary]

Hey look, there's that molhill they call Mount Frederick named after it's discoverer, Don Frederick.

[David Buchanan]

Huh???? This is 2008. I know for a fact that both Governor Richardson and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish both have Blackberries, and that both have each other's numbers plugged in.

Did an emergency occur that the Lt. Governor had to step in because the Governor was unreachable and unable to act? Where was the harm?

This is just one instance of an ongoing feud between the two, simply because Lt. Gov. Denish is hanging on to the last vestiges of a dying presidential candidacy in the form of Hillary Rodham Clinton; and she is upset that Governor Richardson has endorsed Senator Obama, and the Governor's hand picked Party chair, Brian Colon, has endorsed Obama as well.

All this is much ado about nothing, and I would think the vaunted L.A. Times would have more important issues to blog; beyond an internal state sniping by a two state constitutional officers in New Mexico.

Maybe you should write about the popular vote myth, and how those totals mean nothing, since they do not include the states who held caucuses. Look at the list of caucus states: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nevada, Nebraska, Maine, and Wyoming (I did not include Texas because they have a primary and a caucus system,"The Texas Two Step"; I also did not include Washington, as they have a nonbinding primary).

So let's look at these caucus states:
Alaska - 75% of delegates to Obama
Colorado - 67% to Obama
Idaho - 79% to Obama
Nevada - 45% to Obama, 51% to Clinton
Nebraska - 68% to Obama
Maine - 59% to Obama
Wyoming - 61% to Obama.

So, if you want to use popular vote; take the turnout of Democrats from 2004 (or registered Democrats, take your pick), and multiply by these percentages and add to the popular vote.

If you do that, you will see that Obama far and away has surpassed Senator Clinton, even if you factor in the rule breakers in Florida and Michigan.

That's the math... and again, numbers don't lie.

[Franky]

Bill Richardson would make a great VP for Obama! I hope Obama considers him.

The Republicans are scared of him already, based on all the extremist attacts - more reason to support him!