1/1 - Top of the morning from Des Moines, where the expected high temp of the day came around midnight with a fiery 15-degree reading. The rest of New Year's Day is expected to float in the single digits, with wind chill under zero.

 I've got my Under Armour long johns on standby. And I'm prepared to go to my winter weather "nuclear option" if necessary: My Mad Bomber, a fur-lined, leather Elmer Fudd hat that will make me, hands-down, the dorkiest-looking but warmest reporter on the Richardson beat.

So let's get blogging! 

 ALL FROZE UP

You know it's cold when ... your pen ices up.

I did a few outdoors interviews in Iowa Monday, including one in front of a  hardware store and another with a trucker alongside a rural highway, and I had to keep 'em short because my normally trusty Bic froze up after just a few sentences.

Call it Mother Nature's writer's block.

AN EARLY BOOST

Richardson during  campaign events on New Year's Eve day was introduced to the crowds by John Early, a current Placitas resident who was held captive by Sudanese rebels in 1996 and released after Richardson's successful negotiations with his captors.

Early was working as a pilot for the Red Cross when he and two fellow workers from that agency were taken captive. They were held 38 days before Richardson, who had traveled to the war-torn African country, won their release.

 At one event in Perry, Iowa, Early was clearly an effective warm-up man for the governor: After a short account of his ordeal he introduced Richardson, who got a standing ovation.

"He said ... 'I came here to get you, I will not leave without you,'" Early recalled of his conversation with Richardson when Richardson, who was at the time the representative for northern New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District, arrived where Early was being held.  "No other person that I know of in this race ... can make claim to this sort of personal courage."

TALK, TALK, TALK

Richardson and the other Democratic hopefuls  are giving speech ...

after speech...

after speech ...

in the last days before the caucus. And while I've noticed that Richardson's stump speechifying has improved each time I've visited Iowa (this is my third trip), he still sometimes makes a tired slip.

As he launched into one anecdote during his speech in Perry, Richardson said, "The other day, I think it was the 5th of July, right after the 4th ..."

Wait a minute. Are you SURE the 5th comes right after the 4th?

 ANOTHER BUSY ONE

Richardson is packing more and more campaign events into each day as caucus night approaches and has a slew of them today in several Iowa towns. We'll be there.

Stay tuned, and happy new year.

If you have questions or comments, e-mail me at jjones@abqjournal.com 

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