A new Rasmussen poll shows Bill Richardson beating the stuffing out of Mitt Romney in a head-to-head competition -- 42 percent to 34 percent.

In the news recently for a diplomatic trip to North Korea and for signing a controversial medical marijuana bill in his state, Governor Richardson has plenty of room to improve his position. With 30% viewing him favorably, 30% unfavorably, a plurality of 40% of likely voters are still Not Sure what to think of him.

Maybe might wanna re-think that one

The National Journal's "Hotline" blog reports that Richardson, Obama and Biden plan to skip a big Iowa Democratic Party shindig that helps raise the money to hold the caucuses. And that has the party chairman more than a bit steamed.

"It is obvious that Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd and John Edwards take the First in the Nation Iowa Caucuses very seriously and their attendance at the Hall of Fame is a sure sign of the importance of Iowa in selecting a Democratic Presidential nominee,” Chairman Scott Brennan said.

But, the blog points out:

This is unusual, but it is not inexplicable. There will be plenty of chances for Iowa Dem activists to compare candidates side-by-side, and a paltry peformance at an early cattle call can't really hurt. Biden will be in New Hampshire that weekend. The others may have more pressing engagements. We're a ways away from January of 2008.

Back to Nevada

Richardson heads back to Nevada April 29 and 30. According to TV station KRNV:

Richardson will appear at the Plaza Hotel's conference center in Carson City and is expected to make additional stops in northern Nevada the following day before flying to Las Vegas.

Richardson will be guest speaker at a Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

Immigration man

The "Happening Here" blog analyzes Richardson's stance on immigration -- or should we say stances. The writer finds them mostly compelling, with this caveat:

As Richardson's campaign progresses, he can expect to be hammered, at best, by insinuations, at worst by outright accusations, that he wants to give the country away to those Mexicans. He's a scrappy guy who has faced this kind of garbage his whole career, so he is probably ready for it. He's staked out an immigration position with a little something for everyone -- it is not clear whether this will help his campaign.

What do I think he'd do about immigration in office? Hard to tell when a guy covers all bases. The experience of Bill Clinton in office makes me distrustful: Clinton certainly understood the realities of poor women on welfare better than most of our politicians. Nonetheless, he was willing to enact the radical right's punitive "welfare reform" to get the issue out of the way. I fear Richardson would be similarly eager simply to get rid of the issue, willing to sign off on anything a Democratic Congress sent him, at whatever cost to the immigrant workers.

Aiming for an upset

The PBS online "New Hour" blog took a trip to Nevada and checked out the campaigns of Richardson and Obama today.

Along a stretch of suburban homes and law offices in sprawling downtown Las Vegas, a core group of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's staff are looking to history for inspiration in their campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"This kind of reminds us of the days of Jimmy Carter," Reynaldo Martinez, Nevada campaign chairman for the Richardson campaign, said last week. "[H]e gave a lot of people hope that maybe this democracy does work, maybe participatory politics does work. So everybody in Nevada is saying 'Oh my God, I have a responsibility. I can change the course of history by advocating for whom I really want to be president.'"

More than 30 years after Carter's win, the Richardson campaign is working to get Nevadans to support "one of their own" -- a Western Democrat -- in the state's influential Democratic caucus tentatively scheduled for Jan. 19, 2008. They argue the contest, set to fall between Iowa and New Hampshire, could be the catapult to launch the presidential ambitions of another relatively unknown governor.

The story includes a visit to an outbuilding, where the campaign keeps detailed maps of precincts with potential delegates -- a nifty peek into the insides of a campaign.

From Darfur to New York

In New York today, Richardson told a group of black activists he would place more attention on Africa if elected. Before a conference of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization founded by Rev. Al Sharpton, Richardson said the continent had been neglected by the Bush administration in favor of the Middle East and other regions thought to have greater strategic significance.

"Somehow it's not considered by American policymakers to have the importance it deserves," he said. "Issues related to AIDS, refugees, issues related to governance, international poverty -- somehow this continent is forgotten."

Over the years, Richardson has made peace-keeping missions to Zaire, Angola and Sudan.

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