Thursday’s political round-up

March 8, 2007

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* According to a new NBC/WSJ poll, Sen. [tag]John McCain[/tag] is “facing unexpectedly formidable challenges,” and now trails [tag]Rudy Giuliani[/tag] in a head-to-head match-up by 20 points nationally. The WSJ adds, “All told, 2008 is shaping up as the worst presidential year in three decades to be the candidate of the Republican establishment, the spot some in the party think Mr. McCain has assumed.”

* The Politico reports today, “New Mexico Gov. [tag]Bill Richardson[/tag]’s 2008 presidential campaign has been burdened by unusually public discussion about his behavior with women. The lieutenant governor of New Mexico, Diane Denish was quoted in the Albuquerque Journal saying she avoids standing or sitting near Richardson because of his physical manner, which she said was not improper but was ‘annoying.’ The governor, she said, ‘pinches my neck. He touches my hip, my thigh, sort of the side of my leg.'” Richardson called the reports “mean-spirited,” and said he’d been thoroughly vetted in 2004 by the Kerry campaign, which found nothing inappropriate about his background.

* Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) will announce his “future plans” Monday at a news conference in his home state of Nebraska. Hagel’s advisers would not explicitly say the senator is going to announce a presidential bid, but it seems like a safe bet.

* Dems consider Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) to be very vulnerable next year, but they’re having trouble recruiting a well-known candidate. Gov. John Lynch (D) isn’t interested, former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen has rebuffed overtures, and Stonyfield Farm yogurt CEO Gary Hirshberg told supporters on Tuesday that he isn’t running. “At this point. I’m not concerned. It’s still early,” said a high-level state party official.

* In related news, Republicans consider Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) vulnerable next year, but they, too, can’t find a top-tier opponent for her. Republican Reps. Charles Boustany and Jim McCrery have both taken their names out of consideration.

* And professional golfer Tiger Woods is reportedly open to a career in politics. At an event with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Leader John Boehner yesterday in DC, Woods did not rule out the possibility, saying he has had experience “meeting influential people in the political arena” but does not know where his “future lies.”

Richardson called the reports “mean-spirited,” and said he’d been thoroughly vetted in 2004 by the Kerry campaign, which found nothing inappropriate about his background

Yeah right. So did the Kerry campaign send a woman to check out whether her neck would be “pinched”?

  • Tiger isn’t going anywhere until he wins 19 majors, so it’ll be a while before his political career takes off.

  • New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s 2008 presidential campaign has been burdened by

    Sounds like somebody needs to go back to the first grade.

  • In related news, Republicans consider Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) vulnerable next year, but they, too, can’t find a top-tier opponent for her.

    Call Alan Keyes! [falls over laughing]

  • Lt. Gov. Denish has elaborated on her comments about Bill Richardson, and it sounds a lot less sinister.
    http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/36605.html

    At the same time, I can’t stop thinking of the Masseur-in-Chief’s meeting with Angela Merkel a few months back. Keep your hands in your pockets, Guys. No, wait!

  • The implication without follow-up is that there is a sexual side to Richardson’s touching. But go to the Albuquerque Journal article, from 2005, and it also quotes Denish as saying the governor’s personality is “one of charisma, joking, joshing.”

    The article begins:

    “Gov. Bill Richardson likes to touch people. He hugs, pokes, jabs and tickles. If he sees a man with a bald pate, he rubs it. Looking to start a conversation, he might lean forward and head-butt someone— male or female.

    “Bored on an airplane flight? He’ll lick his finger and smudge an aide’s glasses.”

    http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/417233nm12-17-05.htm

    Sounds a bit like the guy in the Oval Office now, eh. Although Ms. Denish does not, for instance, charge that the Guv sneaks up and gives her back rubs.

    The Politico quotes Lanny Davis, a former Clinton aide and spokesman for the White House legal counsel, who vetted Richardson for a Cabinet position in 1992, and he passed the detailed scrutiny.

    “I ended up 100 percent convinced that Bill Richardson was not a womanizer, had not had an affair, had not done anything that had embarrassed him,” Davis said.

    This is right up there with Obama’s parking tickets.

  • Richardson’s behaviour… No matter how many men “vet” him and no matter how many women laugh it off (possibly because they have no other option), it’s still creepy. It’s not whether it’s sexual or not; it’s invasion of one’s private space, a way to show dominance. And the reason the talk is about his behavious towards *women*, even though he seems to treat men the same way, is that women feel more threatened by such behaviour (for very good reasons, too).

    Unless and until he learns to keep his hands to himself, I don’t want him as my president. Don’t want my neck pinched, don’t want my eyeglasses’ lenses smudged with spit (I’m nearly blind without my eyeglasses); don’t want my menfolk’s bald pates rubbed… Not by someone who’s not within my immediate circle of family and friends.

  • Libra (#9), I hope you don’t think my post was an attempt to “vet” Richardson’s behavior. I may not find it creepy, but I definitely agree that it’s rude and a way to demonstrate dominance over someone who isn’t likely to punch you in the nose. At the same time, I’ll take him for President over anyone with an (R) after his name; I just won’t let him get to close to me.

  • Hagle appears to be positioning himself as the “reform” Republican candidate for 2008. Opposing Iraq but voting on the right for social, domestic and financial issues. And it is the Financial Issues that will be the ones of most concern to most Americans if not already. This is what you had better focus on. Having another Global Corp rep in the White House will only make things worse, especially one who is a “reformer”. Ex.: what good is it if a Pres gets us out of Iraq but still destroys Social Security, Medicare and prevents National Healthcare?

  • Richardson has also performed exceedingly well in diplomatic situations. He clearly knows when it is appropriate to goof around and be silly with people he knows well and when to be deadly serious.

    The NYT profile on him a while back followed him to a biker bar in Las Cruces where he hung out and drank beer with hombres most Repugs would be scared to be in the same room with. He’s a guy you can have a beer with, and a guy who will go to Sudan to negotiate with terrorists and get hostages released.

    To say you would not vote for him because he’s touchy-feely betrays a lack of seriousness. Like criticising Gore for being stiff or wearing earth-tones. Notice there has been nothing new on this story since 2005, and the Albuquerque Journal has never seen a Democrat it wasn’t eager to bash. Big Bill has given the right in NM very little to bitch about, so we get stories about how he is annoying or pushy. This is today’s substance. This is why we have an imbecile in the Oval Office.

  • Jim Strain (#10). No, I mean the “vetting” done by Kerry’s campaign etc; they found no mistresses in the woodpile, so everything’s fine. I don’t think it’s fine.

    As for voting… It is absolutely impossible, to imagine myself not voting at all or voting Rethug, so, yes, I’d vote for him if he got the Dem nomination. I just don’t want him to get the nomination any more than I want Clinton to get the nomination (if for entirely different reasons)

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