Pubdate: Wed, 10 Apr 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Michael Janofsky

A CANDIDATE TRIES TO KEEP HIS TROUBLES BEHIND HIM

ALBUQUERQUE, April 9 -- After a short speech on Monday night he invited 
questions, and it came as no surprise, he said later, that no one in the 
audience mentioned Wen Ho Lee, nobody asked whether China had succeeded in 
buying nuclear secrets, and Bill Clinton's name never came up.

That is the way it usually goes, Bill Richardson said, completing another 
day in his campaign for governor of New Mexico. The state has too many 
other problems, he maintained, for voters to worry about ancient political 
history, even if he played a prominent role in it.

A former congressman, onetime ambassador to the United Nations and 
secretary of an Energy Department that struggled with security 
shortcomings, Mr. Richardson, 54, is now the only Democrat running. His 
popularity is so strong and his fund-raising efforts have been so 
successful that the two other Democratic aspirants dropped out.

That has given him a clear path to the November election to face the 
surviving Republican among three competing in a June 4 primary. Gov. Gary 
E. Johnson, a Republican well known for his efforts promoting drug 
decriminalization, is barred by law from seeking a third term.

For now, none of the Republican candidates seem strong enough to win, and 
certainly none can match Mr. Richardson's political portfolio: 15 years in 
the House of Representatives followed by four as the highest-ranking 
Hispanic in the Clinton administration. Two of the Republicans, John A. 
Sanchez and Robert M. Burpo, are state lawmakers; the third, Walter D. 
Bradley, has been lieutenant governor for eight years.

But they have none of Mr. Richardson's political baggage, either. That 
means he could have a fight on his hands in a state that showed dramatic 
ambivalence in the 2000 presidential election. After a recount, Al Gore 
carried New Mexico by all of 366 votes, making this the only state he won 
in the interior West.

"No primary, it's a plus," Mr. Richardson said before addressing parents 
and supporters of a thriving private school here. "In the past, the 
Democratic candidate for governor was so wounded going out of the primary. 
This will give me a chance to unite the party sooner."

One challenge for Mr. Richardson is to convince voters that he can leverage 
his national and world experience to help a state that lags most others in 
vital areas like per capita income, job creation, teacher salaries and 
health insurance for children.

Mr. Richardson places blame for New Mexico's troubles on a governor 
"obsessed with drug policy" to the exclusion of other issues, an accusation 
dismissed by Republicans, who complain that the Democratic-controlled 
Legislature thwarted many of Mr. Johnson's efforts to tackle the state's 
biggest problems.

In any event, Mr. Richardson said, those problems account for the kinds of 
questions he most often faces while campaigning. He answers with proposals 
for restructuring the tax code to attract businesses, creating a high-tech 
corridor in the Albuquerque area and promoting charter and magnet schools.

"That other stuff?" he said of his Energy Department tenure. "Never comes 
up. Non-issues. The only time I hear about it is when I do national 
interviews."

Or when Republicans take aim at him, in attacks he expects to intensify. 
John Dendahl, the Republican state chairman, said questions about Mr. 
Richardson's leadership skills, as reflected in the Energy Department's 
problems on his watch, could emerge as the Republican nominee's best weapon.

"I wouldn't want to run on that record," Mr. Dendahl said today, contending 
that Mr. Richardson presented a "target-rich environment" for the winner of 
the Republican primary, not least because of his close relationship with 
Mr. Clinton.

Mr. Richardson says he inherited the problems at Energy and, despite the 
events that ultimately brought Mr. Clinton's impeachment, bristles at the 
notion that the former president could be a liability. He said he was even 
weighing the possibility of inviting Mr. Clinton into the state to campaign 
for him.

"I feel grateful to him," Mr. Richardson said. "He put me in two cabinet 
positions. I'm proud of my service. He's my friend, and I probably will 
invite him."

But "Clinton is not the issue here," the candidate also said. "I have to 
run my own race."

Mr. Richardson is one of four cabinet officers from the Clinton 
administration who are running for governor this year. Former Attorney 
General Janet Reno is a candidate in Florida, former Labor Secretary Robert 
B. Reich in Massachusetts and former Housing Secretary Andrew M. Cuomo in 
New York. Julia Payne, a spokeswoman for Mr. Clinton, said he would do 
"whatever he can to get Democrats elected."

F. Chris Garcia, a professor of political science at the University of New 
Mexico, said Mr. Richardson's record, a source of pride to many New 
Mexicans -- especially Hispanics, who make up more than 40 percent of the 
state's population -- might be too much for a Republican to overcome. 
Professor Garcia predicted that only "a major error or blunder" would cost 
Mr. Richardson a victory in November. But he wondered whether the 
Richardson campaign path was "too smooth" for now, posing a risk of 
overconfidence.

"He might not do all the things he has to do," Professor Garcia said. "If 
he appears to be too good to be true, people may start looking to see if 
that's a possibility."

Mr. Richardson said he was taking no chances, planning to start a big media 
campaign after the Republican primary in June. "This is a wildly 
independent state that shifts dramatically every four years," he said. "And 
we have so many problems. I want to be viewed as someone with the new ideas 
to address them."
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