By Kate Nash

The gov got mixed reviews from the blogosphere on his Monday night performance.

Not so enchanted

Gov. Bill Richardson's debate performance Monday night didn't sit too well with the writers of blog.eduflack.com, who analyzed the governor's answer to an audience question about whether the No Child Left Behind Act should be scrapped.
"I must say I am truly disenchanted by the governor from the Land of Enchantment. Either he doesn't understand NCLB or he is distorting it for his own purposes," said the blog's top story, which looks to be written by a Patrick Riccards.
The blog disliked Richardson's answer in part because he said we need more dancing, music and sculpture classes.
"On a daily basis we have members of Congress seeking to slash spending for reading -- a non-negotiable educational building block -- and the good governor wants to make sure we're teaching Pottery Wheel 101?"
That's one way to put it.

"One of the winners"
WashingtonPost.com's Chris Cillizza liked Richardson.
He said the governor achieved Monday what he's been meaning to do all along: separate himself from the others on the war.
"Richardson made sure viewers/voters knew that he is the only candidate calling for all American troops to be out of Iraq by the end of the year," Cillizza wrote.
(This and a list of other laudatory comments were pointed out in record time by the Richardson campaign, of course.)
Richardson did get that point across, though, raising his voice and grabbing some audience attention by saying, "I'm trying to provoke a debate here."
He didn't get the debate started right then and there, but getting kudos from the Washington Post is a close second.

Blame the cameraman
The BetaNews Web site said Richardson's performance suffered as a result of unflattering camera angles.
"It didn't help that he was often pictured from the same angle, a byproduct of where he was stationed with respect to the stage." Those angles, said the site, are largely determined by places the camera operator can stand without tripping the moderator.
OK, interesting point. How about what Richardson said into those cameras?
The site thought the governor's content "hadn't changed much since the previous two debates."
Hey, at least Richardson got on camera Í something that didn't look like it was going to happen for the first 20 minutes of the debate.

Eyes for you

While Richardson has put out press advisories on the people he's recently hired, he didn't mention the private investigator on his payroll.
Apparently the guv shelled out $12,500 during the last quarter to hire PI Michael Corwin.
The Marc Ambinder blog on politics thought that was odd. Commentators on the blog thought it was even odder, and one poster, Petey, suggested Richardson hired Corwin to investigate himself.
"Maybe he wants to know what others might find out if they start digging around," Petey wrote.
Either way, the money will be well spent. You know, in case something revealing comes out in the next debate.

Posted by Kate Nash at 08:29 AM | Permalink

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