The address kicked off the 2011 legislative session, a 60-day session where a wide variety of topics will be discussed, but the main emphasis will be on the economy. In her State of the State address, Martinez outlined her goals for the session.

The relaxed, friendly mood described by the paper offers a striking contrast to the white-hot rhetoric that defined this year’s governor’s race. Martinez held up Richardson as the bete noire to good governance, repeatedly criticizing him and his administration as corrupt and spendthrift in her run against Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish.

And Richardson definitely noticed. He said last week his only regret was not being able to defend his record during this year’s election. It was unclear from the stories about yesterday’s meeting whether Richardson raised the hard-hitting, sometimes nasty gubernatorial campaign.

Who knows? Richardson is an experienced pol, a veteran of decades of election campaigns. And he realizes how brutal some elections can be and how unappealing coming off as a sore loser might look. At least publicly Richardson appears not to be nursing any ill will.

Last week Richardson told Gene Grant on KNME’s New Mexico in Focus that the election is over and what New Mexico needs now is unity.

“It was a very bitter campaign,” Richardson told Grant. “The time has come to recognize that we need some bipartisanship now. As an outgoing governor I am prepared to be as helpful as I can, just as Gov. (Gary) Johnson was when I came in. He was personally helpful. It’s a tradition I want to continue.”

As for all those attack ads saturating the air and radio waves leading up to Nov. 2, Richardson suggested to Grant that Democrats and Republicans have to overcome any hard feelings, and get down to the hard work ahead.

“It’s over,” Richardson told Grant. “You get over it. It’s time to govern.”

The highlight of our coverage will begin at 7 p.m. with a webcast, live from the studios at KNME. Editor Gwyneth Doland will join Gene Grant, the host of New Mexico in Focus, and Sara Gustavus of KUNM News. Special in-studio guests will include Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, former Republican candidate for governor Janice Arnold Jones, reporter Peter St. Cyr and Sophie Martin of New Mexico in Focus and The Duke City Fix.

We’ll be analyzing the election results, checking in with NMI and KUNM reporters in the field and talking to some of the candidates themselves. We may also have some very exciting special guests, so you wont want to miss a minute of it!

Can’t be at your computer all night? You don’t have to. Our panel will also be broadcasting on KUNM from 7-10 p.m. and on KNME from 10-11.

Sign up below to get an e-mail when we launch the live blog:

Steve Pearce’s recent comments appearing to question whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States were the subject of discussion for panelists on the episode of New Mexico in Focus that will air tonight on KNME.

“Is Pearce woefully ignorant of the facts or is he…disingenuously playing to the most uninformed folks in that district?” host Gene Grant asks in the clip above.

“I don’t have a clue what he’s doing,” former Albuquerque Tribune Columnist Jeffry Gardner tells the panel. Gardner says he doesn’t understand why Pearce would say such a thing, noting that Pearce is “a really bright guy…a smart man,”  before suggesting, jokingly, that Pearce might have been high.

“…You hear this and you’re goin’ [Gardner makes a confused face], kinda looking around, you know, wondering if maybe the cannabis committee had come in,” Gardner said to chuckles from the other panelists.

The show airs Friday night at 7 p.m.

It was a chilling moment in a conversation that took place a week and a half after a man shot his ex-girlfriend and several other people at Emcore, an Albuquerque fiber optics company.

Other members of the panel discussion include Quentin McShan, a State Police captain who studies fatal incidents of domestic violence and Sharon Pino, Gov. Bill Richardson’s former domestic violence czar who is now the violence against women resource prosecutor for the New Mexico Attorney General’s office.

On Wednesday night, New Mexico First hosted a public lecture (“Collaborative Politics: Now More Than Ever“) at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, moderated by ABC newsman Sam Donaldson. Mike McCurry, Bill Clinton’s former press secretary, was a keynote speaker along with former RNC chair Frank Fahrenkopf.

The video is provided by our friends at KNME’s New Mexico in Focus.

New Mexico First is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization co-founded in 1986 by Domenici and Bingaman. It has become known for leading innovate, interactive town halls and other events.

Host Gene Grant led NMI’s Marjorie Childress, Larry Ahrens, Laura Sanchez and Jim Scarantino through a conversation about the Navajo Human Rights Commission’s efforts to improve race relations in Farmington and whether the incident was a rare event or part of a larger pattern.

Afterward “The Line” guest panelists Phil Marquez of KIVA AM 1550 and UNM law professor Antoinette Sedillo Lopez will discuss the race.

If you want to know a little bit more about the candidates, check out these two videos.