New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the nation’s only Hispanic governor, is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president, calling him a “once-in-a-lifetime leader” who can unite the nation and restore America’s international leadership.

Link via Chris Bowers, who, like me, wonders if Richardson can sway any of New Mexico’s other Superdelegates to the Obama camp. I would say the odds are good (though you shouldn’t expect Martin Chavez to do a reversal on Richardson’s orders). The governor is going to be around for a couple more years, and, more importantly, can do a lot to help get people elected (I’m looking at you Diane Denish).

Aside from Richardson, only one other New Mexico Superdelegate has endorsed Obama: former DNC chair Fred Harris.

As I alluded earlier, this is interesting: while home, virtually nobody mentioned Howie’s name. I kept hearing that Tony Trujillo ((see this previous Silver City Sun News article)) would be the replacement.

Trujillo has been a mover and shaker in Santa Fe the past five years: as a lobbyist for Phelps Dodge, regent president for Western New Mexico University, and for a period as president of the Association of Commerce and Industry (the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce). In fact, many people thought Altamirano was showing Trujillo the ropes, grooming him as a replacement.

Suddenly, Trujillo doesn’t even appear to be in the running.

Howie is a good candidate: he’s been incredibly active in the community, was easily elected to his position as Grant County Clerk, and is well respected. If there are any skeletons in the closet I haven’t heard of them.

With two of three counties putting forth Howie’s name, I find it hard to see Gov. Bill Richardson siding with the right-leaning Catron County commission if they name somebody other than Morales.

Again, more on this later, but two quick questions:

1. Does anybody know who Richardson is meeting in New Mexico tomorrow? According to Heath Haussamen, it’s a candidate to replace Benny.
2. Can Richardson name whomever he wants to the seat? Or is he required to name somebody nominated by one of the county commissions?

Also, for full disclosure: Tony Trujillo has been a family friend for many years — I attended grade school with his son. In addition, I went to high school with Howie’s brother. Yeah, Silver City is a small world.

UPDATE: 1/9/08 — According to this Sun News article, Morales is the candidate meeting with Richardson.

Biden has more momentum than Richardson or Dodd going into the final month, and is picking up traction in some places around the state. I expect him to finish fourth , but he has a very long way to go to pull off a shocker and get into the top three- he’s not surging by anywhere near that much, not yet at least.

The race in Iowa has an interesting mix of “WTF” going on right now, but I’ll put some stock in Lux’s thoughts since they’re not outside the realm of possibility. In addition, with Richardson “sucking up” to Hillary lately, who knows if he’s feeling some of the affects of Obama’s recent surge in the polls.

Richardson promises he will get rid of No Child Left Behind, create a minimum wage for teachers, make pre-k and kindergarten available to all children and create math and science academies throughout the United States.

The ad appears to be tied with a new website outlining Richardson’s planned education initiatives.

New Mexico Bill Richardson has barnstormed 95 of Iowa’s 99 counties, wooing rural Democrats with his pro-gun record and urban caucus goers with his aggressive Iraq withdrawal plan. He has fielded questions on every imaginable subject, from term limits to the space station. The Richardson style is frank but casual. He leans forward in his cowboy boots, fists jammed in his suit pocket.

It also looks like he isn’t pulling any punches:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other D.C. Democrats are as unpopular in the Hawkeye state as President Bush. Richardson said an “anti-Washington dysfunctional relationship-feeling” pervades the Iowa landscape and that the Democratic Congress has been a huge disappointment, by failing to end the war or find common ground with Republicans on a whole host of important issues. “We all worked to elect them, and nothing’s getting done. The partisanship continues,” said Richardson, summing up the mood.

Thanks to TAPPED for the link.

Oh boy. Bill Richardson’s campaign now has a new motif for their campaign literature in Iowa, distributing information about him in the format of baseball cards, complete with him at mound and ready to pitch.

The back of the card lists “positions played” — congressman, ambassador, secretary of energy, governor — and names his accomplishments as “wins.”

If you’ve been paying attention, you know what’s coming.

I think Democrats have a good chance to pick up some seats everywhere, not just in New Mexico.

I think that sums up the situation pretty well.

There’s no way Heather Wilson wins, regardless of who the Dems choose. She had a rough battle against Madrid last year (barely scraping out a win), and the war in Iraq is an even bigger stone around her neck. If she has to compete against Tom Udall (or, in her worst nightmares, Bill Richardson) there’s no way she can distance herself enough from Bush.

Steve Pearce has an even bigger problem: he’s never tried to distance himself from Bush or the Iraq War, and he’s toed the right-wing line in every House vote (see S-CHIP). That might play well for voters in his district, but he’ll be a hard sell in a statewide race.

To be perfectly honest, I’d love nothing more than to see Pearce and Wilson duke it out in a primary battle. But my ideal scenario would see the DCCC shifting the resources they’ve dedicated to defeating Wilson toward supplanting Pearce. It seems unimaginable that the Dems can’t find somebody (and by somebody, I mean there are already some great names being thrown around) to run for Wilson’s seat, and the same is true for Udall’s seat should he enter the race (Democracy for New Mexico says that’s not going to happen). Wilson is more vulnerable now than she has ever been, and Udall’s seat is a secure one for the Democrats.

Those of us living in the south have long felt that Pearce could be vulnerable. The unfortunate media situation (Heath is always talking about this) that feeds Las Cruces residents and others in the southeast news from west Texas rather than New Mexico has always been an obstacle, but it’s one that could be overcome.

Of course, Domenici’s departure from the Senate will have some tangible impacts on New Mexicans. We’ll lose his seniority on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where he and Jeff Bingaman have traded the chairmanship for years (depending on which party controlled the Senate, of course).

Richardson insists he isn’t interested in the Senate race, and Democrats have the increased difficulty of deciding whether to gamble that he won’t change his mind if (or when) he loses the Democratic presidential primary.

Regardless of what happens in early 2008 (potential Senate candidates will have to file petitions in February), the state Democratic party would always replace a primary nominee (see the GOP in the 2006 New Mexico gubernatorial race) if Richardson does want in.

Invariably, I tell them that Richardson is the ultimate politician: there’s no position he won’t take if he believes it will score him some points with some constituency.

I think Richardson’s reversal on the Iowa caucuses is the perfect example. One year ago, he was quoted in the Salt Lake Tribune supporting the idea of a Western primary, and why the Iowa caucuses were so overrated:

Ethanol was Exhibit A on Friday at the Western Presidential Primary Symposium in Salt Lake City, the evidence of why Utah and its Western neighbors need to band together with their own early presidential selection process. While ethanol is debated ad nauseam, Western issues like preparing for drought, managing public lands, guiding growth and complying with the Endangered Species Act are glossed over.

“When is it you ever knew a presidential candidate’s position on water?” asked New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

Fast forward to this year’s election season, and you have Richardson defending Iowa’s right to a first-in-the-country caucus.

Along those lines, it was bittersweet to read this American Prospect article on Iowa voters:

But only one in ten Iowans can be bothered. Not only that, despite all the attention, Iowans know barely more about the candidates than citizens of other states, and don’t discuss politics any more than anyone else (unless something has changed since this research was conducted in 2000). Yet around 200,000 of them, possessed of no greater wisdom or insight than the rest of us, will determine who presides over this nation of 300 million for the next four years. The problem isn’t that Iowans aren’t like the rest of the country (95 percent white, for one). The problem is that despite the extraordinary privilege of having the next president grovel before them, they’re just as indifferent and apathetic as any other group of Americans.

And yet, we still keep pandering to them. Thanks to Kevin Drum for the link.

As I listened, I wondered why he has not been taken more seriously as a candidate–a smart, accomplished governor of Latino heritage. Then I found out.

At the end of his speech–after noting all the ways he would defend the Constitution and redress global warming–he waved farewell to the crowd and shouted, “Thank you, AFSCME!”

AFSCME? Wrong union, governor. He left and the audience repeatedly shouted, “S-E-I-U!” A polite reminder.

Wow. Via Daily Kos and Election Central. Kos, in particular, has something to add:

These aren’t Howard Dean-style “gaffes”, in which the pundits pound someone for telling the truth (like “capturing Saddam won’t make us safer”). These are the sorts of mistakes that are made from poor preparation and lack of concentration. Or something.

All I know is that high-level politics requires a bit more care.

It’s not just high-level politics — if you’re running for the city council and you’re speaking to a group or organization and you don’t get their name right, you’re in for a world of hurt. And rightly so!

There’s just four months (or so) until the first votes are cast in the Democratic primary, and, at this stage of the game, Richardson simply can’t keep making these kinds of mistakes.