Richardson watch
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Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:48 pm
Here’s some online reactions to Gov. Bill Richardson’s performance at the Democratic debate in Iowa Thursday.
“(Sen. Joe) Biden, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson turned in some of their best debate performances of the 2008 campaign and were the day's biggest gainers. Biden's showing was the best of the day. ...Dodd and Richardson scored when they showed their command of foreign-affairs issues such as dealing with the Chinese or fostering fair trade.”
Chris Cillizza, The Washington Post:
*(Under the category of “Losers”) “Unlike past debates where Richardson struggled to make time for himself amid a barrage of questions asked of the front-runners, today he was awarded ample time to make his case to Iowa voters. And, while he didn't fail, he also didn't succeed. From the very start of these debates (lo those many months ago), Richardson always seems to be trying to put too much into his answers; he was the only one of the candidates on stage who repeatedly violated the time restrictions, forcing the moderator to interrupt him. Richardson had his moments (his New Year's resolution, as it is every year, is to lose weight, he said) but there weren't enough of them, especially when you consider the amount of time he was given.”
New Mexico blogger Joe Monahan
“With his polling average hovering just above 7% in the crucial caucus state of Iowa, Big Bill was hoping for some good spin following the last Democratic debate before the January 3 voting, but he was disappointed.”
New Mexico blogger Heath Haussamen:
* “Gov. Bill Richardson had more time to speak than any other Democratic presidential candidate during the last debate before the Iowa Caucus on Jan. 3, but he squandered much of that time and failed to give the performance needed to turn around his sinking campaign.
“Richardson wasn’t terrible during today’s debate in Iowa. But, while others were great, he was not”
Fact-checking education claims
A scathing Factcheck.org report Friday criticized Richardson for adding “to his string of inflated, false or dubious claims” and saying he “stands out for exaggerated and inaccurate claims.”
“Richardson claimed "enormous progress" in New Mexico education, when in fact the state's eighth-grade reading scores have slipped and remain among the worst in the U.S.,” Factcheck said.
“Richardson exaggerated the extent to which his state's teacher salaries increased,” the report said.
In the debate Richardson said, “We were 49th ... in the country in teacher salaries. We're 28th today. Educational achievement has increased.”
But Factcheck.org rebutted, “The salary claim is not true, according to the National Education Association's Rankings & Estimates report. Pay has improved, but not that much. New Mexico's teacher pay ranking was 44th the year before he took office and now is 36th, according to the most recent report.
“It's true that educational achievement has increased since Richardson took office in 2003, but not by much. And in the case of reading scores for eighth-graders, the state has actually lost ground. In 2002, for example, 36 percent of New Mexico eighth-graders scored below basic levels in reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress. This year it was even worse; 38 percent failed to achieve basic reading competency. That's hardly "enormous progress," and New Mexico remains in the national test-score basement.”
Factcheck.org also said Richardson used another screwy statistic, saying said one-third of U.S. health care spending goes to “administration and bureaucracy,” while Medicare officials put the figure at 7.4 percent.
