Pointing to polls, Richardson lays claim to top-tier position

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s (D) campaign this week laid claim to a spot in the top tier of Democratic presidential candidates, pointing to polls that show the governor easing into double digits in Iowa and New Hampshire.

{mosads}Richardson campaign manager Dave Contarino told The Hill yesterday that the two polls represent a “clear trend,” showing that as the governor’s name recognition improves, so do his numbers.

“A few months ago, people didn’t even know who Bill Richardson was,” Contarino said.

The most recent poll from CNN-USA Today shows Richardson at 10 percent in New Hampshire, just behind former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) and former Vice President Al Gore, who both came in at 12 percent.

If Gore is not listed as a possibility, Richardson moves up to 11 percent, with Edwards at 14 percent.

The same poll conducted in March and April put the governor at just 4 percent.

Contarino said the rising numbers are a result of more campaign visits to the state and the Democrats’ first New Hampshire debate, which took place just before the most recent poll. He added that Richardson is polling better in the Granite State because of its heavy concentration of independent voters.

“He spent a lot of time in New Hampshire, and I think it’s paying off,” Contarino said.

Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, said Richardson and Edwards are in a second tier all to themselves in the Granite State, trailing Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) but leading everyone else.

“[Richardson is] the only one of the lower-tier candidates that has shown any traction,” Scala said. “And he and Edwards seem to be going in opposite directions.”

Scala added that the new New Hampshire poll is a “legitimate bump.”

Dean Spiliotes, research director at Manchester’s Saint Anselm College’s Institute of Politics, said Richardson’s debate performance and repeated showings of the governor’s acclaimed “Job Interview” ads are responsible for the “good news” the campaign is seeing in the state.
Last month, Richardson campaign officials excitedly cited a Des Moines Register poll showing Richardson at 10 percent in the first-caucus-in-the-nation state as well.

Contarino said he accepts the conventional wisdom that there are no more than three tickets out of the early-voting states and that a condensed primary schedule has added importance to the first primaries and caucuses. But he disputed the notion that Edwards is the campaign’s chief rival in New Hampshire.

“We don’t really look at it that way,” he said, adding that the campaign is looking to pull votes from every opponent.

The campaign appeared eager to share what it sees as growing momentum, particularly as the latest issue of The New Republic features a relatively unflattering profile of the governor.

The piece, written by senior editor Ryan Lizza, contrasts the governor’s claim to be the most experienced candidate and his extensive foreign policy résumé with the repeated spoken blunders he has made.

In the article, Lizza points to a number of apparent contradictions or gaffes, from Richardson’s “ideological flip-flop” on Iraq to his vote against the first Gulf War to his apparent ignorance of one of the Iraq supplemental funding bills.

“As I watched Richardson, I realized that there is no artifice to the man, which is an endearing quality for a presidential candidate,” Lizza writes. “Lurking behind Richardson’s grabby, clumsy style is a guy who will do anything to be loved. And that’s how many Democrats view the United States right now — a nation that desperately needs the world to love us again.”

Adds Lizza: “Richardson may be a good Cabinet member for the next president, but, despite his charm and likeability, the next president needs to be more than a frat-boy-in-chief who believes that personal connections can overcome all the world’s ideological fissures. We’ve already been down that road.”

When asked for their thoughts on Lizza’s story, both Contarino and Pahl Shipley, communications director for the campaign, first offered a long pause, then stinging criticism: Lizza had taken a “slice of life” moment from the campaign, rehashed other previously published accounts and used them together to oversimplify Richardson’s actual foreign policy accomplishments.

“I thought the piece was biased and simplistic,” Contarino said.

The pair pointed to Richardson’s accomplishments in dealing with hostile foreign governments and working several times to secure the release of American hostages.

“Bill Richardson is a genuine hero,” Contarino said.

Meanwhile, Lizza told The Hill in an e-mail, “I understand they’re disappointed that the piece wasn’t a more glowing assessment of their boss, but the story speaks for itself.”

Despite this potential setback, the Richardson campaign continues to move ahead.

With the second fundraising quarter coming to an end this month, Contarino declined to offer public expectations for the campaign.

He did say that it continued to meet internal expectations, and that it is confident it will have the resources necessary to compete.

Richardson finished the first quarter with a little more than $5 million cash on hand, and yesterday the campaign announced that former U.S. Ambassador Edward Romero has signed on as national finance chairman.