Richardson Grok
Richardson Takes Bold Stand on Iraq Pullout
By Emily Esterson, 6-19-07
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Is the Bill Richardson for President campaign off to a rocky start in Iowa? Apparently so: Vandals threw rocks at the second story windows of an office the Richardson campaign is using in Des Moines, according to the Des Moines Register. Police didn’t find evidence of break in. “It is unknown if the crime was directed at presidential candidate, Bill Richardson, or just random,” according to the police report. There were no witnesses.
Perhaps fellow candidates, mad because Richardson accused them of being soft on the Iraq pullout this morning, threw the stones. Richardson said, in a statement, “With all due respect to my outstanding Democratic colleagues - Senators Clinton, Obama, Dodd and Biden - they all voted for timeline legislation that had loopholes. Those loopholes allow this president, or any president, to leave an undetermined number of troops in Iraq indefinitely. And this is the same legislation that former Senator Edwards says we should send back and back to the president over and over again until he signs it.” The Associated Press reports Richardson has launched a website, www.notroopsleftbehind.com, for supporters of his total pullout strategy to sign a petition.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s political blog, political blog reports on the Federal Election Commission’s newest innovation: an interactive map that shows campaign contributions by state and last-three-digit zip codes. In Ohio, the Plain Dealer reports, the top presidential fundraiser from Cleveland-area zip codes - those starting with 441—was Democrat Bill Richardson, who got $63,500, followed by John Edwards, who got $52,675. In New Mexico, all candidates combined have raised $2.9 million, of which $2.8 million went to Richardson.
Yesterday’s Washington Post reported on Nevada’s importance to the campaign now that the state has moved its primary up to January 18, 2008, making it second only to Iowa. WAPO noted that Bill Richardson has been the only candidate to make one of the fastest growing states a campaign priority. Picking Nevada as an early primary state, Democratic Party leadership wanted to assure, they said, that the early primaries are more diverse. Like its neighbors, Nevada has a high population of Hispanics--23 percent--and a high number of union workers. Richardson told WAPO that he understands Nevada—from the problems of a dry climate to the large Latino population—better than other candidates because of his time as New Mexico’s governor. “This is a state where I must do well,” Richardson said in an interview. “I’ve got to show some strength here.”
Seems like at least one columnist in Nevada likes Richardson—either for president or veep. Writes Kirk Caraway of the Nevada Appeal:
I really like Richardson. He’s a middle-of-the-road candidate, a westerner who understands that government isn’t the answer to every problem. His experience as a congressman, cabinet secretary, U.N. ambassador and governor makes him the best-qualified candidate for president, hands down.
Caraway puts his money on Richardson as an almost sure bet for veep with Hillary and Obama, noting that Obama could use Richardson’s foreign policy experience, and that if Hillary is the candidate, Richardson is a shoe-in (but Caraway doesn’t say why he thinks that).
Back home, the Albuquerque Tribune noted that, if elected, Richardson wants to expand the cabinet—something he did in New Mexico. In fact, the state cabinet got so big that it had to pay $18,000 to expand the marble cabinet table.
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Comments
campaign. He is my governor, and I have known him for 30 years. What he has achieved vis- a-vis the New Mexico Legislature is quite remarkable, but I won’t recite the accomplishments. I do want to see him President. I am in no way connected officially to his campaign.
The so called "top-tier" candidates together, all 3 of them, have a
collective resume still lesser in quality to Bill Richardson's! I am certain that Richardson’s real genius and his strongest suit is in international affairs, and that will be vital, if we are going to even attempt to rebuild the shattered US image internationally, after six years of Halliburton-driven corporate kleptocracy. His debate skills have not been as honed and polished as the 3 lawyers in so-called "top tier," but that is fixable.
His biography is great (Between Worlds: the Making of an American Life), and I hope the new books on Energy Policy will be just as good.
Here is what I consider the bottom line: you don’t have to be a Marxian or Hegelian or a Ph.D Economist to comprehend that our domestic economy is suffering and going to get worse resulting from the on-going international implications of the screwed up foreign policy of this administration, so thoroughly based on corporate needs and demands; as long as we continue to
see appointments like Bush’s trade negotiator Zoelick made over into President of the World Bank to replace “Wolfiewits,” don’t expect ANY major improvements in the last two years of Bush’s tenure, especially in the trickle down economic realms which would improve the lives of individual American consumers.
Richardson has repeatedly made it clear that Congress could deauthorize the Iraq War, and that he personally would end it the first day of his Presidency.
My prediction: Richardson is going to win in Nevada, and he is going to do very very well in Iowa, New Hampshire, and California, I think winning in at least one more of those states. May I suggest that you and your readers directly communicate to David Contarino and Amanda Cooper, his Campaign Manager, and Deputy CM, or to Richardson directly through the email function
on his NM governor website? These people are very open to new ideas, questions, strategies, insights, etc., and I encourage anyone reading to take the time to contact them by phone or by email, even if you have just one question on a policy matter, or want to tell Bill Richardson what YOU think. You can also google my most recent major article, Resolving the Worsening Crisis at the FDA.
Truly,
Stephen Fox
New Millennium Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
505 983-2002
Over the past months I've been reading your comments on my updates--I, too, am a New Mexican, former editor of the New Mexico Business Weekly... so I know what Richardson has done right, and not-so-right in the state. I also know wayyyy tooo many people who have worked for him.
I think (my opinion, only!) that perhaps you've misunderstood some of my columns. Obviously this is the writer's fault whenever her message gets muddled. So I take full responsibility for that.
I don't, personally, know what to think of Richardson--I hope that's come through in my columns. I honestly haven't formed any opinion at all on what kind of president he'd make. My out-of-state friends are always asking me (in fact, my best friend from NC asked me last night on the phone-first question. Not "how's your husband, how's the book coming," or other best friend chatter, but "WHat do you think of Richardson?") Yes, on the one hand, I think his ambition has brought some good to the state (we LOVE the Railrunner and use it, we have friends newly employed by the movie business, we're pretty glad that cockfighting is history). I like that's he's decisive. I like that he's taking a stand on Iraq. I don't like that he has a dictatorial management style and has some "Clintonesque" qualities (Bill, not Hill) when it comes to women.
The column is meant to be a roundup--obviously its not totally objective, but I'm trying to offer "read this and read that" rather than here's what I think. I'm not going to form an opinion on any of the candidates for quite some time. I think if I wrote about McCain or Romney or Clinton I'd have the same tone.