Las Vegas Sun: Richardson elusive as a presidential candidate

[Colobo]

First, I was promised 10 minutes alone at a "block party" in late March at Richardson's Las Vegas headquarters. But he stayed busy with another reporter. I watched as he talked and ate, pieces of hot dog bun flying from his mouth.

Josh McNeil, Richardson's Nevada press aide, told me I was next. Then, in a flash, a reporter from New Mexico stole my slot. McNeil looked at his watch. The governor had a plane to catch.

"How about one question," McNeil asked. "We'll take care of you next time."

I asked Richardson how he intended to catch the front-runners. "This race isn't about money," he said, turning to sign autographs and pose for pictures. End of interview.

A month passed. I kept calling, offering to go most anywhere for an interview. Richardson returned to Las Vegas, this time to speak to Culinary Union members.

Alas, time was short, I was told.

May came and went. Then, in June, an earthquake.

An extensive profile by the New Republic was posted online June 12. Titled "Paper Candidate," it was a lengthy analysis of Richardson's famously varied resume and what the writer, Ryan Lizza, deemed a disconnect between the candidate on paper and the candidate in reality.

"Richardson has again and again created the impression that he doesn't know the basics," Lizza wrote, chronicling a series of inconsistencies and verbal gaffes on the campaign trail. And, of course, the awkward moment, captured at an Iowa AAA baseball game, of Richardson "tickling" the scalp of one young woman and then reaching for another before stopping.

The piece sent a chill through the Richardson camp. McNeil said the campaign was now skittish about granting interviews.

The next week, on June 17, Richardson returned to Nevada. I had been promised 15 minutes in a vehicle with the governor. But I was late, called away for another story.

I caught up later, following Richardson on his official Nevada "canvass kickoff" (knock on two doors of two houses for the cameras, race off).

I chased to his next event. "No time," McNeil said.

The campaign did say I could see the governor speak to a class of Hispanic immigrants learning English. I trailed Richardson down a long hall of the Flamingo Road branch of the Clark County Library, watching as McNeil dropped his Black Berry and Richardson crushed it underfoot - never breaking stride.

Richardson spoke to the class in Spanish, then appeared to wink at me before leaving for a fundraiser.

"Next time," McNeil told me. "Next time."

As July came, the profile took on more urgency. Richardson was gaining ground. He hit double digits in some state polls. His Nevada fund raising numbers topped all Democrats' in the second quarter.

And then, a break: a tentative promise to let me spend the day with Richardson on a coming Nevada trip, and some one-on-one time in New Mexico, in August.

But soon after came word that New Mexico must wait. The governor was traveling too much. (He did manage to pose for a Playboy magazine portrait in New Mexico in August.)

The promised Nevada meeting was to be in Reno on Aug. 22. But it dissolved into an impromptu news conference in a hallway at the Grand Sierra Resort, crowded by a television crew. Richardson hurriedly told me that the Republican-rich rural parts of the state would propel him in Nevada's Jan. 19 caucus es .

He was heading to Fernley, about 30 miles east of Reno, later that day. I pleaded for a ride-along.

McNeil agreed. I could follow Richardson , but only in a campaign "chase car," not riding with the governor. "That's when he does his New Mexico business," McNeil said. "In between events."

I accepted. To get my ride, I was to meet the chase car at the Reno Telemundo station at 5:30 p.m. At 5:20 p.m., I made a left turn into the parking lot and nearly smashed into Richardson's caravan - leaving early for Fernley.

I maneuvered around Richardson's SUV and his caravan zoomed off, leaving me behind. I shouted and waved. I called McNeil. The chase car circled back to pick me up.

"I'm sorry," McNeil said. "We forgot."

We arrived in Fernley an hour early, surely enough time for an interview. But Richardson was nowhere in sight. Neither was McNeil.

I spied Richardson giving interviews to local reporters in another room.

"Is the governor doing one-on-ones?" I asked an aide.

"You'll have to talk to Josh about that," came the answer.

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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-other/2007/sep/15/566644143.html