Long-shot Richardson bets on Nevada

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is placing all his chips on the January 19th Nevada Caucus in hopes that a win here may catapult him to the Democratic nomination.

Richardson has so far failed to draw the national media spotlight that rivals Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, and former Sen. John Edwards have enjoyed. This, in turn, has had a negative effect on both his fundraising and name recognition. To date, he has raised more than $18.5 million for his campaign and usually polls in the low-to-high single digits, numbers that are dwarfed by frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s $90 million and unarguable polling strength.

With slender resources comes careful planning, and it appears that Gov. Richardson has focused his strategy upon winning Nevada’s crucial early caucus.

“He has offices in Las Vegas, Elko and Reno and about fifty staff,” according to Carson County Democratic Chairman Steve Platt, a strong Richardson supporter. “He’s been to the state more than any other Democratic candidate, and he’s now got to some of the rural areas of the state. In a caucus situation, those precincts in the rurals are just as important as the ones in Reno and Las Vegas.”

Asked if Nevada represents a must-win for Governor Richardson, Platt conceded “He certainly has to do well in Nevada for his campaign to stand a chance.”

David Damore, a Political Science Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, agrees. “He’s been here the most and has a core. If he doesn’t do well here, you have to figure, how much longer is he going to stay in the race?”

Demographically, Nevada provides Democrats their first opportunity to test support in a state with a large Hispanic population. Richardson, as the first major-party Hispanic candidate for president, has hoped to capitalize on that as well as his status as a popular governor of a neighboring state. Strategically, however, it is organization that is likely to pay the highest rewards.

“Whoever has the best ground game out here is going to win,” says Platt. “Whoever’s organizing, precinct by precinct, getting their people to the caucus is going to win. I think Governor Richardson has the resources to do it.”

Could an early win in Nevada be a first step to the White House for Richardson?

Damore doubts it. “It would give him some momentum; maybe sustain him a little longer. It’s going to be very tough. Even if Hillary Clinton does stumble, there are two or three people better positioned than he is. A lot of people assume that he’s been running for vice-president all along.”

If that is his goal, maybe his road to the White House leads through swing-state Nevada after all.