Richardson surges with 3 times as much support as Biden in Iowa and 4 times as much in New Hampshire

Russert: How can you do it in one year?...
Richardson: This is what I would do. I would bring them out through roads through Kuwait and through Turkey. It would take persuading Turkey. The issue is light equipment. I would leave some of the light equipment behind.

"Richardson's a very politically astute individual," says Robert Goode, NRA regional representative for West Texas and New Mexico. "He knows you're beating your head against a wall when you go after the firearms issue. And he backs his words with his votes." Goode continues that, if a candidate like Richardson ran for the presidency, he believes the NRA would step back and not take a partisan stance on the election. Goode's colleague Charles Weisleder, a 70-year-old NRA lobbyist, agrees. "Richardson," says Weisleder, a bald man smiling broadly over coffee at an Albuquerque Shoney's, "got a lot of gun votes because of what he said to us. A lot of people are driven by the firearms issue."

{Here's some context from earlier in the article}: Proponents of gun control are dismayed by these political developments, citing evidence that New Mexico, in addition to having the open landscape that so lures gun enthusiasts, also has the nation's second-highest per capita homicide rate as well as a youth suicide rate twice the national average--two-thirds of these suicides are carried out with guns, most of which belong to the family of the victim. They also produce statistics (disputed by the pro-gun lobby) showing that concealed-carry laws don't help protect law-abiding civilians from violent crime, and they point out that one of the few gun-control successes in recent years was the assault-weapons ban, which, until it expired last year, helped keep extremely potent weaponry off America's streets while not limiting hunters' rights to own less powerful arms. "They're not good for public safety, and they're not good for public health," says Bill Jordan of New Mexico Voices for Children. "People don't want them, but there's a powerful gun lobby. And that's very sad."

"You said the NRA is a traditionally left-wing organization?" Dwight Van Horn said, incredulously repeating the question.

The gun rights group - traditionally not a left-wing organization, to answer the question - lent its endorsement Monday to Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat.

For governor....

But as he mulls a run for president, Richardson's history of close relations with the NRA could set him apart from other Democrats seeking the party's bid.... The NRA endorsement, announced Monday at a West Mesa shooting range where hundreds of law enforcement officers from around the world took part in an NRA-sponsored shooting championship, wasn't the first time Richardson has garnered the group's backing... "He has treated us first class," said Kayne Robinson, NRA's executive director for general operations. "What the implication of that will be in national politics is beyond my pay grade."

A news release announcing the endorsement cites Richardson's support for a law that allows New Mexico residents to carry concealed handguns with a permit.

Richardson said he has earned a concealed-carry permit himself.

"I am not packing today, though," he said, "because I have plenty of State Police officers here to protect me."