Denish Takes Political Balancing Act on the Road

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish is in Washington, D.C. today at the Democratic Governor's Association. Apparently she met with some reporters who raised some of the same issues about her candidacy that I did in a story this week.

"Denish said simply that she already is `distinctly different' from Richardson -- and she is," wrote Erine McPike in Hotline Oncall. "Where the Hispanic Richardson is back-slapping and outspoken, Denish is a soft-spoken woman, and the first female lieutenant governor of the state; her history of public service took a different route than Richardson's. Denish rose through state government ranks, whereas Richardson served in Congress and the Clinton administration."

The Politico, in a story headlined "Diane Denish: The anti-Bill Richardson" quotes Denish saying, "I’m a different kind of leader, and I think it’s well established in New Mexico that my style is distinctly different than Governor Richardson’s. I’ll be running on my own record, I want to be clear about that… I don’t think I have to say I’m going to be different than Bill Richardson. I am different than Bill Richardson.”

The Republicans, of course, have a different take. Yesterday they had a news release referencing my balancing act article with a Denish quote from The Albuquerque Journal last year. The lieutenant governor was quoted saying "I’ve been a good, loyal solider and we’ve worked well together."

I predict we'll be seeing more of that quote.