I’m alone in the office today (Jim is off on Fridays and Mary Alice, Stina and Meredith are all traveling to accept awards from the Presswoman’s Association). I’m also shooting a wedding this weekend, so I’ll be light on blogging until Monday. Nonetheless, check out Heath Haussamen’s report on the Democratic debate last night: I [...]

KOB-TV: New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s visit to North Korea appears to be yielding unexpected fruit. Richardson, part of a bipartisan delegation dispatched to North Korea to return remains of U.S. MIAs, appears to have secured a concession from the communist state on its developing nuclear weapons program. Monday, a North Korean nuclear arms negotiator [...]

Jonathan Singer of MyDD has some liveblogging of yesterday’s SEIU/CAP/UNLV Presidential Healthcare forum. Gov. Bill Richardson was the second candidate to speak during the event: Richardson says that he understands first hand as a governor the issues with healthcare. “All Americans and all businesses… should be able to buy the same coverage as Members of [...]

According to Election Central: Time for some staff notes, junkies: Former Howard Dean pollster Paul Maslin has agreed to join Bill Richardson’s Presidential campaign, I’ve confirmed. The oft-quoted Maslin was Dean’s pollster from March 2003 to the conclusion of Dean’s Presidential campaign nearly a year later. Reached for confirmation, Maslin confirmed he’d agreed to join [...]

Read Heath Haussamen for the latest developments into what’s happening with the special session: The House appears to be on track to work through the night, and a GOP motion to adjourn sine die and end the session was defeated by Democrats. House Republicans are working every procedural angle they can find to try to [...]

The Albuquerque Tribune’s Kate Nash (hat tip to Heath) blogged yesterday that the Senate adjourned without considering any of Gov. Bill Richardson’s proposed legislation: Linda Lopez just moved the Senate adjourn SINE DIE. It passed. But there is a challenge to the ruling, which was on a voice vote. . . The vote was upheld. [...]

One thing I noted during last week’s candidate forum in Nevada was just how tall Bill Richardson is when he’s up on stage. He dwarfed the other candidates when they all stood for photographs during the intermission. This morning, another photo appeared in my inbox: It isn’t just anybody that can make Arnold Schwarzenegger look [...]

I’ve blogged before that former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack dropping out of the race would be good for Bill Richardson, but here’s Heath Hausammen‘s take on other positive news about the Richardson campaign: The news keeps getting better for the presidential campaign of Gov. Bill Richardson. The governor is continuing a slow and steady rise [...]

Via Matt Yglesias (who wrote about the Richardson candidacy earlier this week) comes this Richardson-penned column: The recent tentative agreement with North Korea over its nuclear program illustrates how diplomacy can work even with the most unsavory of regimes. Unfortunately, it took the Bush administration more than six years to commit to diplomacy. During that [...]

From an interview with Indian Country (via Election Central): I’ve never felt that it is a matter of just trying to get votes or feeling good, but that the Native American people are real partners; and if you want to resolve problems in New Mexico involving land, water or energy, you got to have the [...]

Via Atrios comes this CNN story stating Tom Vilsack, the former governor of Iowa, is dropping out of the 2008 Pres race: Democrat Tom Vilsack is abandoning his bid for the presidency after struggling against better-known, better-financed rivals, a senior campaign official told The Associated Press on Friday. Vilsack left office in January and traveled [...]

So how did Bill Richardson do yesterday? You can read two good summaries of yesterday’s forum. The first is Heath Haussamen‘s liveblogging, which is more structured than mine; the second is over at MyDD, by Jonathan Singer. The big news from yesterday was former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who said this about Medicare and Social [...]