Bill Richardson visits Las Vegas, talks up Obama

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was in North Las Vegas yesterday (why wasn't I informed??? :-) and gave a town hall meeting to talk with voters about Obama.

The visit was one in a series of recent actions by the campaign underscoring the importance of the Hispanic vote here and throughout the Intermountain West.
“John Kerry lost Ohio,” Richardson said in an interview. “If he had won Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado, he would be president today. I think the key to the election are these three Western states — and the margin of victory is in the Hispanic vote.”
(Richardson said he would be spending much of his time campaigning on behalf of Obama in those three battleground states, as well as Florida.)

Last month the campaign opened an office in North Las Vegas focused on Hispanic outreach. (A third of the campaign’s field organizers speak Spanish.) It then unveiled an advisory committee of influential Hispanic leaders, including some, such as Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen, who had endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton in the state’s presidential caucus.

On Saturday, Richardson fired up about 75 volunteers at the campaign’s North Las Vegas office before they fanned out across five, Latino-heavy Assembly districts. “Canvassing is the most important thing we can do to win,” he told the crowd. “You can have a lot of negative ads, but what’s most important is people-to-people, door-to-door, getting out in the neighborhoods with the people.”

¡Si, se puede!