This weekend, New Mexico Gov. Bill "The Resume" Richardson will officially file papers to form a presidential exploratory committee. He'll appear Sunday morning on 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos' on ABC.Quick bio, for those who don't know:
-Serving second term as Governor of NM
-Served in House of Representatives for 14 years, named Chief Deputy Whip for the House Democratic Caucus
-Appointed U.N. Ambassador by Pres. Clinton
-Appointed Energy Secretary by Pres. Clinton
-As Chairman of Democratic Governor's Association, increased the amount of Governors from 22 to 28 in favor of Dems
And of course his entry into the race will mean a Hispanic is joining an African-American and a woman in the fight for the Democratic nomination, making this a race for the ages....even more so.
Despite serving as Governor, Richardson is still very active in the diplomatic arena. In fact he recently negotiated a temporary 60-day cease-fire in Darfur. Months before, he negotiated the release of an imprisoned journalist in Sudan. In 2003 he was went to North Korea to discuss their buildup of nuclear materials.
Gov. Richardson does have one mark against him that can be summed up in three words, Wen Ho Lee. His tenure as Secretary of Energy was marred by this incident that now looks even worse with the threat of terrorism now at the top of every voter's mind.
In Richardson's defense though, everyone in this race has some kind of political skeletons in their closet. Hell, even if you don't have real skeletons, your opponent -- or the right-wing, 24/7 attack machine -- can always just make stuff up and fool at least some of the public into believing that it's true. Recall that they attacked Howard Dean for being anti-Semitic (he wasn't; in fact, he's married to a Jewish woman). They attacked Al Gore for supposedly bragging that he had invented the internet (he never said that). And they attacked Bill Clinton for having had people murdered while he was Governor of Arkansas (this would be hilarious if it weren't believed by so many people). This year, we've already got the accidental deliberate mis-spelling and mispronunciation of Barack Obama's name as "Osama."
Bizarre, yes, but this is what happens when you run for higher office in America. And it's not just when you run for President. Remember that Jim Webb was accused of everything from racism to anti-Semitism to pedophilia during his primary and general election campaigns last year? Yeah, this is political arena, and it's a rough place to throw your hat.
Richardson said he believes people react very well to positive campaigning, and he may be right. Two of his gubernatorial commercials were shown and they were very corny, but gently humorous.
Positives on my first view of this guy I haven't paid much attention to: he's oriented toward diplomacy and has handled difficult diplomatic jobs in the past; he would have automatic credibility in Latin American countries with his ethnicity and ability to speak the language; he appeals to the tree-hugger in me with his environmental positions; his experience as a governor would be a huge plus in a way Obama and Edwards cannot touch; his A rating from the NRA would give him wide appeal throughout the rural South and the West; and he doesn't come across as a jerk.
I would like to know more about Richardson since all I hear from Wes Clark's camp is a deafening silence. All I know is that I'm nowhere near deciding who I'm going to support in the primaries if Clark doesn't run, so Richardson may be the one.