NM Pop Politics

Earlier Gov. Bill Richardson claimed that today was the first time he’d ever voted early. The exact quote:

Today, I voted early for the first time in my life. I always vote election day.

But that’s not what the Secretary of State’s Voter View says. It has him voting early in the 2008 primary and in the 2002 general and municipal elections. It also has him voting absentee in the 2004 school district election, the 2000 presidential general and primary elections, the 1998 gubernatorial general and primary elections and the 1997 special election. Here’s our screen capture, but you can check it yourself by ploppin’ his name and DOB (11/15/47) into Voter View.

I’ve sent an e-mail to the Governor’s communications office seeking an explanation. I’ll post it when I hear back.

Well, technically Gov. Bill Richardson and I in-person absentee voted, because that’s what it’s called when you do it at the Clerk’s office. It’s just plain ol’ early voting when you do it at the fair grounds.

In this video (shot by intern Bonar Blagden, edited by me) the Guv early votes, then explains why it’s important to early vote, then claims it’s “grossly premature” to suggest that he’ll be the next Secretary of State,” followed by Congressional candidate Ben Ray Lujan acting “grossly premature.”

UPDATE: As Kate Nash reports, Big Bill wouldn’t say whether he voted straight-party or not. Considering that he’s a big Udall supporter and he made it clear he supported Lujan outside…we wonder whether this indicates he didn’t cast his vote Jerome Block Jr., the PRC race being the only other contested race he would’ve voted on.

Tonight, four networks are airing Barack Obama’s 30-minute special. Don’t groan, it might not be that boring. In fact, there’s a familiar name behind it: Mark Putnam, who directed Bill Richardson’s clever “job interview” advertisements during the primary season. SFR spoke with Putnam in late 2007 for the Bill Richardson portion of our Top 10 stories of the year issue–He’s a funny, creative guy, who has been directing Bill’s spots since 2005.

We’re supposed to be New Mexico’s pop politics blog…and yet, Heath Haussamen scooped us with this tidbit: Val Kilmer’s considering running for governor in the next election.

Actually, I guess this is really, really old news that was only brought up again recently by the Politico, when Kilmer didn’t turn up to his scheduled speaking appearance at the Ralph Nader rally on the third night of the DNC. I had free tickets to the Nader event, which I would’ve attended, provided that the Nader people called me back to set up a Val Kilmer interview. Which they didn’t. (They best not bitch about the media ignoring them, the no-good no-call-backers).

Anyway, here’s what the strategists are saying.

One powerhouse Democratic lobbyist’s reaction? “Can a Batman or an Iceman make it? Maybe he shoulda played Maverick. Or Hockey Dad.”

The head of one of the most successful PR firms in Washington stayed with that theme and scoffed, “The Iceman Cometh.”

And a communications person who has experience working with governors laughed, “Holy Governor Batman!”

Um yeah. I have to say, the favorite movie of my childhood was Real Genius, which starred Kilmer as Chris Knight, physics genius. Man, that had some of the best lines, ever (for example, from IMDB.com:

Mitch: You know, um, something strange happened to me this morning…
Chris Knight: Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?
Mitch: No…
Chris Knight: Why am I the only one who has that dream?)

Last night at Invesco, right as Gov. Bill Richardson’s new speaking slot was upon us, I just happened to spy Democratic Party of New Mexico Chair Brian Colon hanging out on the floor from the bleachers. He was so fantastic during the roll, I had to get him to introduce Bill for our viewers.

Of course, Bill didn’t end up coming on stage between MLKIII and will.i.am as had been previously announced and blogged. No, instead, we were treated to several other speakers first and some sort of text message exercise*, before our gov. showed his new mullet to the crowd.

The universally acknowledged best line of the night:

“John McCain may pay hundreds of dollars for his shoes, but we’re the ones who’ll pay for his flip-flops.”

*which I found especially ironic, considering that as much as Obama and Democratic Party might brag about how text messaging is changing elections, allowing supporters to keep immediately up to date with the campaigns… just the night before, Gov. Richardson’s press staffer Caitlin Kelleher couldn’t even text the members of the New Mexico press corp to let them know that there was no emergency, that Richardson had just been bumped from the speaking schedule.

Props to blogger and reporter Matthew Reichbach for getting this one online first:

Richardson will not get a prime time speaking engagement as it seemed he might be slated for on Wednesday night. It turns out the applause for Bill Clinton went on a little bit too long and someone had to be bumped off the list; New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was the person bumped off the list.

It couldn’t have helped to see Tammy Duckworth speak while knowing that less than two weeks ago, Richardson was in the running for the top spot on Wednesday night’s speech lineup: for the vice presidential candidate spot. Instead, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden got that position and speaking spot.

Richardson will instead be sandwiched between a speech by Martin Luther King III and a performance by will.i.am and John Legend. Yeah, Richardson is between a famous civil rights leader’s son and a member of the Black Eyed Peas.

Yeah, it kinda sucks for Richardson and the suckiness trickles down to the rest of us who were hoping for a big moment for New Mexico.

But, you know, thinking about it on second read, I think Reichbach’s being a little pessimistic. will.i.am and John Legend are sure to draw a decent sized crowd, even at that hour.

And I’ll be there.

The New Mexico press corp (not to mention the New Mexico Democratic Party staff) were texting something frantic when Gov Bill Richardson didn’t turn up on stage for his allotted speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night.

Even the convention staff were under the impression that Richardson would be making a 20 minute speech.

I’d fought for an hour to get to the convention floor for his address and failed because either the Secret Service or the Fire Marshall had closed access (DNC staff said first one, then the other). Finally, I did sneak into one of the press box seats…only to be stuck wondering wtf was going on. No word from the Gov’s office, the state party had no clue either and the other journalists were equally in the dark. I had to bite the head off one specialty publication journalist who asked me to keep my voice down while talking on the phone during Biden’s speech.

Like, he had Biden’s speech on paper in front of him and the video will be on YouTube or C-Span.org almost instaneously. Our Governor had disappeared. That fact shut him up.

A nice Denver-based journalist next to me, who claimed to be a friend of Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s wife, said she’d heard hours earlier that Richardson had been bumped to tomorrow. Could the local press have been the last to know?

Anyway, I’ve now got confirmation from Conchita Cruz, communications officer for the DPNM (recently promoted from press secretary) who dutifully tracked down the info for us, both during and after Biden’s speech. Here’s the quote she gave us from an unnamed member of Richardson’s staff, via text message:

The Governor was asked to speak on the final night of the convention at a larger venue. More details will be available in the morning.

I guess we’re talking Invesco. Richardson’s gotta be so stoked. But we’re also hearing speculation in the blogger tent that Richardson will be speaking much earlier in the day…which isn’t as bad as it sounds. Unless I’m mistaken, people are supposed to show up at 2pm.

Here’s what it was all about:

SANTA FE - Governor Bill Richardson today announced he has accepted the New Mexico Veterans Museum Task Force’s recommendation on the best site for a state veterans museum. Members of the task force informed Governor Richardson yesterday that they had unanimously voted to put the museum in Las Cruces.

Seriously, where’s my goddamned Veep text message?

(Of course, this isn’t to denigrate our veterans at all.)

UPDATE: Nah, it was all about the Veterans’ Museum. Lame!

Big Bill with a “big announcement” today?

Boy, does the Obama camp know how to cocktease.

This came in late yesterday afternoon from Gov. Richardson’s press office-

Governor Bill Richardson’s Public Schedule for Thursday

SANTA FE - Governor Bill Richardson will travel to Las Cruces tomorrow, Thursday, August 21^st. The Governor will speak at the Domenici Public Policy Conference and then hold a press conference to make a big announcement.

August 21, 2008

10:30am Domenici Public Policy Conference

New Mexico State University

Pan Am Center

Las Cruces, NM

12:00pm Press Conference

Farm & Ranch Museum

4100 Dripping Springs Road

Las Cruces, NM

Um… so is it going to be Richardson waiting around for the text message to go out that he’s the Veep choice? Is he going to announce that he’s Obama’s SOS pick, and that he’s bowing out now so Lt Gov Diane Denish can take over? Or is he calling another vanity special session? Or could the *big* announcement just be some sort of new federal grant for the Farm Museum and NMSU’s 4-H program?

Whatever it is, it’d better be HUGE if I’m going to miss Kumar and Howard Dean for it. They’re speaking at 10:15 am in Santa Fe. Meh…maybe I can make both.

I wonder if Caroline Kennedy has ordered all the rumored short-listers to announce “big announcements” tomorrow. Are the guys behind the Cloverfield hype running the show at Obama HQ or what?

I didn’t see you at Arielle Gutman’s astrology lecture on Wednesday. Where were you? I thought we had a date.

Well, whatever your excuse, Arielle was nice enough to sit down for a short session on Gov. Bill Richardson’s astrological chart and what it says about his Veep and Secretary o’ State chances.

You can also catch Arielle along with Human Design expert Genoa Bliven and Vedic Astrologer Edith Hathaway this Saturday, discussing the upcoming election this Saturday:

Center for Spiritual Living
505 Camino de los Marquez, Santa Fe
Tickets: $35 advance or $45 door
Call: 505-984-8330.

Bios after the bump. (more…)