Friday, December 08, 2006

RICHARDSON'S FOX PAS

My story on Gov. Richardson's Fox News interview where he said the magic words "I'm running ..." can be found HERE.

The "fair and balanced" Fox story, including a video of the interview, is HERE

Here's my take on what happened: It's obvious that he just let his guard down when talking with Fox reporter Carl Cameron, skipping the usual tiresome coy disclaimers.

It's not the first time this has appened. When I interviewed on the phone in October for a campaign profile, I asked if he'd announce his presidential campaign in New Mexico. Without hesitation, he said yes. But then he caught himself, and quickly added, "If I announce I'm running."

What's weird is that in six weeks or so, it's all going to be moot. He'll make his big exploratory committee announcement surrounded by hundreds of supporters and it'll be off to the races.

But I think Joe Monahan has a good point though in today's blog.
... instead of taking his lumps and wiping the egg away with a serving of humor, the Governor and his multi-headed press staff proceeded to make matters worse by insisting the Guv's statement that danced across the Internet at lightning speed was taken out of context and that the Guv was not running for the 08' Dem prez nomination, at least not yet. They then tore into Fox for having `incorrectly reported that Governor Richardson has announced he will run for president.' ...

As is usual with these cases of jangled nerves under the harsh glare of the national spotlight, the reaction to the mistake was worse than the error. ... reacting so heatedly to his semantic error gets him off to a shaky start in a scene crowded with heavyweights like Hillary Clinton.
Monahan reports that Richardson's staff called Albuquerque television stations to implore them not to cover the story. I can't vouch for that. When I called spokesman Gilbert Gallegos, he told me the report was "absolutely false" -- even though the guv's words were on video. But he never asked me to not to write the story.

XXXX

Speaking of Monahan, one local politican denies something from a previous Monahan blog post.

State Sen. John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe, told me Thursday that he didn't actually hug Richardson at last weekend's Senate Democratic Caucus meeting. It was just a handshake, not a hug, he said.

Grubesic said he did apologize to Richardson for his "personal attack" early this year in the infamous "Flabby King" letter. Personal attacks don't do anyone any good, Grubesic said, especially his constituents.

He said he won't hesitate to stand up to Richardson when he disagrees on an issue. But he said he'll refrain from namecalling.

Grubesic, whose first year in office was marred by two well-publicized encounters with police, said he definitely will run for re-election in 2008, though he expects opposition.

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