MAKING HIS POINT: Barak Obama spoke to an audience of about 6,000 on Friday, including 2,000 people in overflow rooms and another 1,500 in Albuquerque's Civic Plaza.

MAKING HER POINT: Hillary Clinton spoke to an audience at a rally at Highland High School in Albuquerque on Saturday. The state's Democratic Presidential Caucus is Tuesday.

Fear and not loafing on the campaign trail

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The first three visitors also made a side trip to Santa Fe; but apparently Mrs. Clinton will not. National media traveling with the campaign said it was on to St. Louis for the night, and then to Minneapolis to watch the Super Bowl.

The candidate did confirm there would be  Twin Bills watching the Super Bowl together in northern New Mexico: Ex-President Bill Clinton and current New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson are supposed to gather in an undisclosed cabin, reportedly near Red River, to watch the Patriots and Giants due battle.

No doubt President Clinton will also be pushing Richardson to endorse his wife's candidacy, perhaps as early as Monday morning in time to get the headlines in Tuesday's newspapers on caucus day.

Some other random thoughts from the past 72 hours:

Ted Kennedy may be showing signs of his age, but given the right circumstances he can still make a speech to fire up a crowd. On Thursday, the crowd wasn’t sure if Kennedy’s mere presence had caused some sparks.

 ust as he was about to be introduced, a pre-recorded announcement came over the intercom at the National Hispanic Cultural Center: “Attention! Attention! Attention. An emergency has been observed. Please walk to the perimeter exit. Do not use the elevator. Please walk to the nearest door.”

A split second after the series of announcements concluded, Kennedy, who will turn 75 on Feb. 22, jumped from his seat like a school child who had just sat on a tack and called out, sans microphone, “I can’t think of a nicer crowd to go with.”
 
He could have announced right then he was seeking the Republican nomination and nobody in the crowd would have cared. He had them hooked, and though his voice crackled a couple of times, his passion for service, even after 45 years in the Senate, came through.


It’s going to be hard for Bill Clinton if he becomes he first First Gentleman.

His speech to mostly college students had a whole lot of references to his days as president that seemed almost self-serving in his attempt to write a legacy that was pre-empted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal. There seemed to be a lot of “when I was president” and “back in the 1990s” and “before George Bush” type of arguments followed by an “if you want to return to those days, vote for Hillary” pitch. That may reassure some voters and may be the only approach for Bill Clinton to take, but at times the tone seemed almost to border on bitterness and resentment.

One thing’s for sure: The press corps following President Clinton, both around the country and on that day, were none to happy. First, we were left standing outside on a bitterly cold day for close to two hours while security checks and set-up continued inside. Then the group was herded into a pen, complete with metal rail fencing, while he public was allowed to gather 40 rows deep in between, getting as close as perhaps 10 feet from the stage. Campaign staff actually went into the strands to recruit people from their seats to fill the space between the stage and the media.

(That’s why he photograph that appears elsewhere on this site isn’t the best of quality – The SCORE doesn’t have a $1,000 super telephoto lens just yet, only a simple 8x pocket digital camera. Photographers weren’t even allowed to go sit in the bleachers, even though it was farther away than the press pen, in their attempts to get a clear view.)

Apparently Clinton was quite accessible until the South Carolina primary, when the ex-presidents remarks about Obama created a major controversy. Now supporters are being used as a human shield to keep the media away from Clinton, even for what reporters who follow him nationally described as “the typical boiler-plate speech, nothing new or outstanding.” Even after the speech was done, attempts by local media to get out of the press pen and close enough for a picture were denied by staffers.
 
One national reporter was overheard to say, “After this, I’m about ready to volunteer for the Obama campaign.” The thought here: If Team Clinton can’t run a rally any better than that, then how are they going to be able to run a country?

The first team did a lot better Saturday night when the candidate came to town. Local media was forewarned that preliminary setup for the 8 p.m. event would be at 5:30 p.m., after which a security sweep of the building would be required. Local media was informed it probably wouldn't be allowed back inside until 6:30 p.m., which was pretty close to being the first on-time moment of the four days.

The SCORE had been told that the doors to the event would not be open until 7 p.m., but the campaign actually began to allow those who were standing in line to come it about 6:30 p.m., certainly the only thing done early during the campaign blitz. The event was publicly as running from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., and local media was told the candidate would be on stage about 8:30 p.m. Push all of those times by about 30 minutes and you have a fair approximation of the actual schedule.


Friday’s Obama event was much smoother for the media than Thursday's fiasco with President Clinton. A sign on one front door at the Convention Center was designated as a media entrance, and reporters were directed up one set up steps where they signed in, got a pass and were electronically frisked by the Secret Service before being directed to their seats. A designated media section directly in front of the candidate, about 15 rows back, was crowded but clearly roped off. When the sound system went out at the end of a preliminary speech made by Sheryl Williams Stapleton, the Majority Whip of the New Mexico House of Representatives, a staffer was on the spot in a matter of moments to correct the problem.

Obama himself even appeared sensitive to the crowd and media, prefacing his initial remarks by apologizing for being late because he had taken some time to appear before the crowd gathered outside the building and in two overflow rooms.

The Obama gathering in Albuquerque was labeled an “Economic Town Hall” and didn’t feature an old-time hellfire and brimstone lyrical presentation like Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton or other African American leaders might make. But that doesn’t mean that Obama was totally dull or dry. He picked his spots, including a response from an audience question about immigration.

Granted the downtown facility itself lends to an easier operation that 50-year old Johnson Gym. But in general the overall experience was much more pleasant with Obama on Friday than Clinton on Thursday.

Saturday’s Clinton event is a campaign rally was in a high school gym, Obama's in a downtown convention center. It's almost like the site selection in itself was trying to send a message: Obama isn't all revival preacher and can be serious on issues, and Clinton can be personable and fire up supporters when needed.

Whether “Obamamania” can overcome the long history New Mexico -- and the entire country, for that matter -- remains to be seen.

Southern New Mexico political blogger Heath Haussamen, who was in Albuquerque for the Clinton event after seeing Obama in Santa Fe on Friday, reported on his site late Saturday that "A new poll of New Mexico Democrats – the first conducted since Richardson left the presidential race – has Obama leading Clinton by six points. However, that's within the margin of error of 7 percent.

"The statewide survey of 207 New Mexico Democrats who are likely to vote, conducted Jan. 22-31, had Obama up 48 percent to 42 percent, with 10 percent undecided.

"The poll was conducted by students in the Political Research Skills government course at New Mexico State University. Professor Jose Z. Garcia, a well-known political analyst, supervised the polling and personally interviewed Spanish speakers – calling them back after they were reached by students who could not interview them – to ensure they were included in the poll."

To read the complete story on the polling, click here.