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Richardson Grok

Savvy campaign move? New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, in a move meant to differentiate himself from Barack Obama and John Edwards, actually came to Hilary Clinton's aid after the debate in which the two candidates pummeled her as beholden to special interests. "It's OK to get aggressive on the issues, but to make personal attacks on somebody's attachments to lobbyists, that's not the kind of positive tone I want to see,"Richardson told the Associated Press. Compassionate? Or well timed political maneuver? The candidate also launched a new ad campaign, depicting him as a straightforward, really nice guy, walking down a country road in a brown button down. "I’m sure not the best looking or the flashiest, but I know who I am," Richardson tells the camera. Julie Bosman of the New York Times writes that the ad presents Richardson as sensitive, authentic and self-deprecating, a side that may hold particular appeal to female voters. Richardson's defense of Hilary Clinton and criticism of negative campaigning came right at the same moment as his ad about being Mr. Nice Guy. Go figure. [more]

Oh Crumb!

For the past three decades, I've been baking bread nearly every fall and winter Sunday afternoon. Bread baking, for me, comes second only to riding horses in things I love to do with my spare time. Lately, though, I've gotten a little more serious about it.

One of our friends is an avid bread baker/experimenter. I've had blue-cheese pine nut bread, and sage bread, and other combinations thereof, and we used to tease him about how he talked about bread: "This one has a great crumb; the crust is the perfect marriage of crunchy and light," or some such declaration. Gordon, indeed, sounded like one of those irritating Sideways characters who'd recently taken up wine tasting in Napa Valley.

With each loaf, I seem to get a better handle on my rising/kneading/consistency technique, and I now understand why bread bakers can be as irritating as oenophiles. I actually used the words "good crumb" when describing my latest loaves, which took three days to make. [more]

Richardson Grok

Water, water, everywhere. Now share it: New Mexico Governor and presidential candidate Bill Richardson gaffed again when he told Michigan and Wisconsin audiences that the states were awash in water that they could share with the dry west. Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm's response to sharing the wealth? "Hell no." Richardson then back pedaled furiously. His press secretary told the Detroit Free Press, "Richardson believes firmly in keeping water in its basin of origin and of the rights of states to oversee water distribution," even though he's still proposing a nationwide water summit.

As the primary nears, Richardson's going on the offensive against Hilary Rodham Clinton. In an Associated Press report from Las Vegas, Richardson said Clinton is "acting like she's already won" the nomination, specifying that Clinton decided not to remove her name from the primary ballot in Michigan, despite a promise not to campaign in the state because it broke party rules in scheduling the contest before Feb. 5. [more]

Food Media

Sometimes, startup companies luck out: they land at the convergence of not one, but two trends. In the case of Edible Communities, a for-profit publishing entity launched in Ojai, Calif., but now based in Santa Fe, the local food movement caught on just as hyper local publishing seems to be replacing broader, general circulation magazines and newspapers.

Edible Communities runs a bit like a franchise; you pay to purchase the design, plus year-long support from the company. Marian Burros wrote about Edible Communities in the New York Times in August, noting that the buy in is $30,000, with an additional $60,000 paid out over five years. The magazines focus on local agriculture, slow food, local sourcing and the restaurant scene, although each publication is left pretty much to the publishers and editors to determine the content. [more]

Western Politics

Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) is expected to announce his retirement today in a press conference in Albuquerque.

Recently, Domenici's health has been questionable. News accounts say he's suffering from a "progressive brain disease." The senior senator is the state's longest serving, and holds the senior Republican position on the Energy and Natural Resources and Appropriations committees. This year hasn't been so good to the senator: he, along with heir-apparent congresswoman Heather Wilson was said to have pressured former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to bring indictments in a politically charged corruption investigation of local Democrats ahead of last year's election. [more]

Richardson Grok

If it's Tuesday, it must be water: Candidate Bill Richardson did what he does best these days—talk about western issues in front of a sympathetic audience. Yesterday the Governor of New Mexico and presidential candidate stopped off in front of a crowd of about 100 people in Boulder City, Nevada, reports the Las Vegas Sun. The governor told the crowd that the West is going to rise again, focusing his speech on land use and the environment, including emphasizing that he wanted some alternatives to the controversial Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Dump planned for the state. He is one of the first candidates to talk about the need for a national dialog on water issues, although he resisted taking hard positions on some issues. Richardson's strategy in the West appears to be talking to small groups about issues near and dear to them, rather than stumping on Iraq and health care as he's done in Iowa and New Hampshire. [more]

Richardson Grok

Is it all troops, some troops, or just a few troops? As candidate Bill Richardson gains in the polls in both New Hampshire and Iowa, some of his opponents have decide to attack, as it were, Richardson's position that he'd pull all troops out of Iraq if elected. Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd, both of whom are merely blips in the polls, have decided to point out Richardson's fuzzy math when it comes to just how many troops will remain. Early in the campaign, Richardson told Hardball on MSNBC that he supports leaving residual troops in Iraq. These days he's said he'll leave only enough troops to protect the U.S. Embassy. Biden's campaign manager told the Baltimore Sun, "Gov. Richardson is right that he represents both experience and change – he has a lot of experience changing his mind on matters both large and small.”

Richardson launched a new ad today, seeking to underscore that his position is to pull the troops, all the troops, out of Iraq. This time, his ad speaks to the political netroots as he features bloggers such as Chris Bowers from openleft.com talking about his policy. Although the bloggers didn't get paid to appear in the ads, their travel and expenses were reimbursed. The New York Times writes that the bloggers stop just short of endorsing Richardson. Writes Bowers: While this ad is not an official endorsement of Bill Richardson’s candidacy, it is an endorsement of his no residual forces plan for Iraq. It is an endorsement of his leadership on the issue. [more]

Down Home Cooking

In the midst of it all, there was the New Mexico State Fair Pie Contest. It's taken me a couple of weeks to get down to writing about it, only because I've had to manage a few things in life that took precedence. But as today is the last day of the fair, it's a pros pro, or, rather, apple pro.

In the midst of jobs, elderly mother care, sick farm animals, I couldn't help but be drawn into the drama of apple, cherry, pecan, chocolate and peanut butter. Last year, if you'll remember, I was a spectator and post-contest taster (in fact, the headline of that piece was "My oh My I ate too Much Pie). So enthralled was I by the odd combinations of people and subculture that is the New Mexico State Fair Pie contest, I vowed to enter.

Let me set the scene for you: This year, 89 pies showed up at the contest. That's about 20 more than last year. The audience numbered 100 or so all on folding metal chairs in the sick fluorescence of the arts and crafts building, with many friends and families in attendance. I recognized some of the bakers--it's a tradition of colliding worlds, where grandmotherly types enter alongside high school students and prominent doctors and newspaper reporters (taking a precious vacation day for the state fair pie contest). In the pie world, it matters not what you do for a living, what side of the street you live on, or where you buy your clothes, only that you've got good flake and fruit that "snuggles gently against the crust." [more]

Richardson Grok

Bill Richardson tried yet again to draw a distinction between himself and the other democratic presidential candidates yesterday.

Appearing before the Laborers' International Union of North America convention, Richardson told the audience that unlike his competitors, he would leave no residual troops in Iraq after his six month pullout plan had been completed. As quoted in The Swap, "The Iraqis want us out of their country, and they will not make the hard choices necessary for political reconciliation until we make it clear that we are leaving for good," he said.

Even though Richardson gaffed the name of the SEIU ending a speech recently (he thanked AFSME, one of the Service Employees International Union's chief rivals), he's still working hard for the union vote. Thehill.com notes that several of the democratic hopefuls say they will resurrect a controversial ergonomics rule that President Bush overturned in 2001.
[more]

Richardson Grok

Careful, careful, Bill Richardson. You don't want to seem like you're whining about the fact that you didn't get to show off your command of la lengua de Espanol. To some observers, though, that's exactly how the governor of New Mexico is sounding right about now. During a televised debate on Univision, the nation's largest Spanish language network, Richardson was forced to hear the questions through his ear piece in English, and respond in English, letting the network translate those responses to Spanish.

According to the International Herald Tribune, Richardson expressed his outrage at not being able to speak Spanish: "I felt it was a gag that was unfortunate because here you had the leading Hispanic network in the country not allowing Spanish. It was a bow to the so-called front-runners who didn't want us to show off our Spanish," he said at a news conference to announce a Hispanic outreach program for his campaign. There's an old saw in New Mexico that perhaps Richardson heed in making his quest for Hispanic voters: If you want to run for office in New Mexico, have a Spanish-sounding last name. [more]

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