Richardson Camp Calls in the Reinforcements

By Emily Esterson, 12-13-07

Campaign overdrive: In just a few short weeks, Iowa hosts the first official presidential caucus and the media is all agog over the statistical dead heat between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. So just where does that leave our man Bill Richardson? In Iowa, of course, with quite a few members of his Santa Fe staff manning the phones, walking the streets, talking to voters. Despite his efforts to the contrary, experts are noting that Richardson hasn’t really differentiated himself on the important issues—the war in Iraq, health care and immigration. “At present, no, there really isn’t any issue where he stands out,” University of Iowa sociology professor Kevin Leicht told Kate Nash of the Albuquerque Tribune. “That’s where I think if he said more about immigration in the next three weeks, he could stand out,” Leicht said. Yes, he’s still an underdog, and likely to remain so as the campaigning pushed to more serious edges, with Richardson trailing the other candidates in fundraising.

The power of intentions: Perhaps that’s what Richardson is betting on. Even with his solid and never-changing fourth place ranking, Richardson told the Des Moines Register yesterday, “I know I can win.” Richardson told about 100 people at an event at Briar Cliff University that, “Iowans like underdogs” and that he was counting on them to help him break out of fourth place.

What you can find on Craigslist: Governor Richardson did not file any Delaware signatures (he needed 500) to be on the ballot in the Delaware primary, according to Ballot Access News. Apparently, the efforts of this group, which posted its need for Bill Richardson signatures on the popular ad board Craigslist did not garner enough signatures to put Bill on the Ballot. 

He did play baseball, didn’t he? Richardson has asked just about everyone, from his cabinet staff to his home town buddies, racing greats Al and Bobby Unser, to campaign for him. In what seems to be a new trend that invites everyone, from Hollywood to the baseball diamond, to join the party, Boston Red Sox great Luis Tiant, will campaign for Richardson in New Hampshire. Tiant, a Cuban immigrant who told Boston.com that he likes how Richardson delivers in the clutch, will appear at a reception entitled Mi Familia Con Richardson in Manchester, N.H. on Saturday. Curt Schilling has endorsed Republican candidate John McCain.

Still trying to be different: Richardson told the Sioux City Journal that he’s no ordinary Democrat. He’s a moderate. He cited his his record of tax cuts, providing business incentives and getting the endorsement of the National Rifle Association. Time and again, wrote the journal, Richardson pointed to his career as Ambassador to the United Nations, his experience in the Department of Energy and his diplomatic missions to Iraq and North Korea among other hotspots, as a differentiator between himself and the other candidates. Dan Calabrese, of the North Star Writers Group, a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based syndicate, wonders why there’s no Democratic love being thrown at Richardson, or at least not enough. Calabrese gave Richardson this endorsement: If any Democratic presidential candidate is ready to govern, it is Richardson. His candidacy hardly gets a mention in campaign coverage, and he barely registers in the polls. But if experience matters – and it does if you care about a president’s ability to govern – Richardson is far and away the most well-rounded and qualified candidate the Democrats have to offer.