"Is Richardson Quietly Surging?"

Yes, he is, and this guy seems to have noticed.

Bill's Sitting This Particular Fight Out, aka Bickering Is Bad

You've probably read a lot about how Hilary and Obama are going at it over who has the better strategy for a hypothetical meeting with a dictatorial leader of an unfriendly nation. As this article from the Boston Globe indicates, Bill Richardson is not going to choose sides in that fight. In fact, in both Iowa and New Hampshire, voters have a tradition of not liking these sorts of scraps, or certainly not enjoying them if they drag on. Indeed, in 2004, much of Kerry's victory was credited to Dean and Gephardt going too negative on one another. Could it happen again?

A Different Kind of Presidential Candidate

That's what this piece from the Des Moines, Iowa Register calls Bill Richardson.

Bill Richardson Wins Iowa Caucuses!!

At least that's what this article says is going to happen. It seems that this group of pollsters is convinced that the Gov is perfectly positioned, based on polling results, to be the guy with the momentum to take Iowa in January. Really.

Post-Debate Thoughts

Hey, that was a nice performance by the Gov last night. In fact, it was *by far* his best debate yet. BR started a little behind the rest of the top tier when all these debates began a few months back. He's not a lawyer, and the other three are, and, trust me, it matters. Lawyers are, by and large, used to thinking really fast on their feet and responding in a, er, lawyerlike (slick/pointed) manner to questioning. BR had been a little behind the curve in that regard. He did *much* better last night. He was clear, concise, not repetitive, and did an overall great job of getting his message out there without any of the grimacing or uncomfortable facial expressions that seemed to be a problem in that first debate. I saw that last night's post-debate reaction on CNN had him tied with HRC as the winner among a group of 24 undecided Nevada voters.

This is all great news because it's still *really* early in this whole game. The non-politically -obsessive general public is just beginning to look seriously at the candidates. Indeed, something like 64% of New Hampshire voters said they had not permanently settled on a candidate yet. Bill Richardson is moving up. Now that the Gov has found a debating style that suits him well, let's enjoy the ride and keep it going. He was already great in person with a crowd at a campaign appearance. Now he finally seems to have found a way to be just as convincing in front of a TV camera. This is good news.

An Interesting Comment

I've never reposted a blog comment before, but I found this one interesting, and because it's a recent comment but buried back in the May archive, I thought you might have missed it. I'm not finding it interesting because the guy agreed with me, but, rather, because it's a conservative voter telling us how to beat the GOP in '08: nominate Bill Richardson. My original post is here. Here's most of the comment:

"As a conservative from the Reagan era, let me say that much of what you said here is right on the money. I've thought for two years that Richardson is the one guy who could carry the states the Dems have built as a base and siphon enough votes to get Arizona, Louisiana, Kentucky, or Missouri.

This is not going to be as 'easy' for the Democrats as most of their supporters wish. Let's face it: Bush is NOT on the ballot. Saying, "I'm not Bush" (which was Kerry's ONLY argument) didn't win when Bush was the alternative, so why should it work when the GOP isn't nominating Bush AND isn't nominating his Veep, either?

It is a SIMPLE FACT that the Electoral College swings in favor of the GOP. It's not as hard a swing as it used to be in one sense - some states (NJ and IL, for example) that used to vote GOP are now pretty solid for the Dems. The PROBLEM, however, is the NUMBER of electoral votes going towards the GOP has increased as NY and PA have lost votes to places like Florida."

It's Debate Time Again (And This Is Getting Serious)

Monday night July 23 at 7pm on CNN is the next Democratic debate and it's a huge opportunity for Bill Richardson. Having just moved into third place in New Hampshire recently, the Gov has the chance to make a huge impact on the race with a big performance. All past debates will be forgotten if he can seize the moment and focus on his plan for the future. It's a big moment for him and I hope he uses it well. A stellar performance tomorrow night could be the catalyst to move even farther up in the polls.

Picking Up Western Endorsements

The headline says it all. Read more here.

I'm out of here for a week of vacation. Stay cool and blogging will resume in earnest in a week or so....

Working Hard

There hasn't been a lot of earthshattering, headline-grabbing news on the '08 front in the last week, but the Gov is still working hard. He's been at it in SC, NH and IA, often going to spots that others are ignoring. Here's a piece on his visit with a SC Native American group, and here's one on the first-ever visit of a presidential candidate to Marlow, NH.