Richardson Watch Updated 06/25/07

Money talk

The second quarter for campaign fund-raising ends this week. We don’t have any figures yet, but according to the Washington Post, Gov. Bill Richardson has been hinting at a big surprise:

“New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who is barely registering in most polls, has told other Democrats that he expects to raise more money than Edwards this quarter.”

Rising in Iowa

Speaking of registering in the polls, the Richardson campaign is claiming a surge in Iowa, home of the first presidential caucus next year.

Independent pollsters routinely warn that poll numbers taken from surveys commissioned by campaigns should be taken with huge grains of salt.

The Real Clear Politics Web site gives Gov. Bill Richardson an average of 7.7 percent in independent polls taken in recent weeks. The most recent independent poll, performed by the Mason-Dixon company (which also does polls for The New Mexican) shows Richardson in fourth place at 6 percent.

But for the record, here’s what the Richardson campaign is claiming:

“New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has jumped to 13 percent in a new survey of likely Iowa caucus-goers, a 10-point gain since March,” said a news release from campaign spokesman Pahl Shipley. “(Richardson) is the only Democrat to make any significant gains over the past three months. Among the likeliest caucus-goers (representing just over 40 percent of the sample — voters who attended the 2004 caucuses, voted in the 2006 primary, and say they are definite to attend next year's caucus) Gov. Richardson has actually overtaken Sen. Barack Obama and moved into third place at 18 percent.”

Among likely caucus goers, Former Sen. John Edwards leads with 34 percent, followed by Sen. Hillary Clinton with 24 percent and Sen. Barack Obama with 17 percent.

Said Shipley, “The poll of 500 likely Iowa caucus-goers was conducted for the Richardson campaign by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin and Associates June 18-20 and has a margin of error of + 4.4 percent.”

Blowing in the Wind?

The leftist magazine Counterpunch on Monday challenged Gov. Bill Richardson’s appeal to the anti-war vote.

“In 2003, fifteen million people demonstrated around the world against the start of the war against Iraq, saying it was a hoax," wrote Albuquerque resident Bob Anderson in a scathing article. "Five thousand stood in Santa Fe at the governor's office and was he there? No, and he could not then hear the massive voice of the people. Now he claims to be a leader in our movement."

Anderson was a Green Party congressional candidate in 1998.

“At the rate at which Richardson is racing to get out in front of the growing, global peace movement we might expect him to soon say he was helping Bob Dylan write anti-war lyrics, when in reality he was in prep school being groomed for leadership of a poorstate that he could use to launch a large political career."