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Gov. Bill Richardson experienced one of those slightly surreal moments that inevitably happen on the campaign trail about an hour ago when he bumped into Chelsea Clinton, who was campaigning for her mother in Portsmouth. The governor waded into the Breaking New Grounds coffee shop and there she was. I was close enough to snap a picture on my camera phone. I admit I didn't even recognize Chelsea - wow, has she grown up - until someone pointed her out to me. I couldn't really hear her conversation with governor, but Richardson did tell Clinton, "You're the best." There didn't seem to be any discussion about cabinet positions, but then again, the way things are breaking maybe Richardson should be having that discussion with Barack Obama's folks. Richardson's in downtown Portsmouth as we speak, doing what he does best: schmoozing and shaking hands. I'm sitting in my rental car on the town square typing this and keeping an eye on the Big Bill entourage as it moves down the street. 
This is it – the final full day of campaigning before New Hampshire voters decide who gets the mojo heading into the next rounds in South Carolina and Nevada. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has vowed to stay in at least through the Jan. 19 Nevada caucuses, and all indications are that he will perform somewhat better in New Hampshire than his dismal 2 percent showing in Iowa. But he’s still expected to finish so far back in fourth place that people will begin publicly urging him to drop out. The governor has another full slate of campaign events around New Hampshire today, including one in Portsmouth around noon. I’ve spent the past three days trailing the governor and his staff, and while the mood isn’t suicidal, there definitely isn’t much laughing or joking around. Richardson still seems loose, however, and he is engaging the modest crowds at his campaign events. His wife, Barbara, is making rare campaign appearances with him and she seems to be keeping him in a good mood. At a rally in Keene yesterday, Mrs. Richardson injected some warmth into her introduction of her husband. The First Lady dusted off a joke she’s used before, but this crowd hadn’t heard it, and they ate it up. She told a story of being a co-ed at Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire and how “this tall, skinny kid” would visit her from Boston. “We all know some things change – he’s still tall,” she mused. “I’ve stood tall with him for 25 years and I’m proud to stand with him here today.”
Speculation is rampant in New Hampshire that Richardson is angling for a vice presidential spot on a Clinton or Obama ticket, or a major cabinet position in the next Democratic administration. The former U.N. ambassador suggested he’s qualified to be America’s top diplomat during a rally in Newport Sunday, relating an anecdote about Sen. Joe Biden. Speaking to about 80 people at the beautifully restored Newport Opera House yesterday, Richardson said he and Biden – who dropped out of the race after Iowa – had a discussion about becoming secretary of state. “I told Joe Biden he could be my secretary of state,” Richardson said. “He said ‘wait – you be my secretary of state’. But he dropped out so maybe we’ll have to look for someone else.”
The political pack in New Hampshire is still chattering about the Richardson campaign’s decision to lend its supporters to Barack Obama in Iowa caucus precincts where Richardson couldn’t muster at least 15 percent of the vote last Thursday.A Clinton volunteer I know from Washington called me raging about it on Sunday. And ABC’s George Stephanopoulos took note at Saturday night’s debate. I've got to tell you, right now, the Clinton campaign and the Clintons themselves are livid at Governor Bill Richardson, because they believe he made these deals with Barack Obama in the Iowa caucuses to throw his support in the places where he wasn't viable to Barack Obama so he could stay in the race,” Stephanopoulos said during the pre-debate coverage. It’s understandable that Hillary would be irked. After all, her husband gave Richardson two jobs – U.N. ambassador and Secretary of Energy. If she comes back and wins the nomination, will she offer Richardson another one? We’ll see. Richardson has denied talk of a “deal” with Obama for Iowa delegates, but some Richardson volunteers in Iowa, as well as a key campaign aide in New Hampshire, told me that they were told to move to the Obama camp if Richardson fell short of the 15 percent needed to stay viable under Iowa’s arcane caucus rules. Richardson spokesman Tom Reynolds told me late last week that the campaign made “strategic decisions” on the ground to benefit the governor and that Obama and Richardson share a similar pool of supporters.
Richardson’s campaign staffers might have lost him at least one vote Monday morning in Manchester. At the Manchester hotel I’m staying in, a middle-aged woman (who seemed really, really caffeinated at about 7 a.m.) was complaining to anyone within earshot at breakfast that the governor’s “handlers” pushed her out of the way at an early morning event on “radio row” at the Radisson Hotel downtown. The Radisson is where much of the national media, including ABC News, has set up shop. The woman, a Democratic Party volunteer from New Hampshire, said she liked Richardson, but couldn’t vote for him after being treated rudely by his staff. You know you’re in New England when the roads have signs warning of “Moose Crossing.” I saw one yesterday during a drive to Newport, N.H. which is near the Vermont border. This is beautiful country – hilly, snowy, colonial America dotted with churches and meticulously restored Victorian homes. It seems to me that this state, with its famously independent and involved voters, deserves its special place in the American political process.
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