Richardson In, Too
by Chris Bowers, Sat Jan 20, 2007 at 08:19:24 AM EST
Richardson will announce he is joining the race tomorrow on ABC's "This Week."Here is the story:ew Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson intends to take the initial step toward the Democratic nomination, hoping his extensive resume will fuel an insurgent campaign to become the first Hispanic president.
Richardson plans to announce on Sunday that he will soon file the papers to create a presidential exploratory committee, several officials with knowledge of his plans said Friday. The governor is scheduled to appear on ABC's "This Week."
His entry would make the Democratic race the most diverse presidential contest in history. Beside Richardson's bid to be the first Hispanic chief executive, Sen. Barack Obama would be the first black president and likely candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would be the first female president. Richardson is definitely the resume, experience and accomplishment candidate. His extensive experience in foreign relations (frequent high level diplomatic envoy and Ambassador to the UN), as Governor of New Mexico (chair of the DGA, no less), and as a member of Clinton's cabinet (Energy secretary) is impressive to the point of bordering on dreamy. And oh yeah, he was also in Congress and is a member of the largest emerging voting block in the country.
As far as making the field look more diverse, it is true. However, the field still isn't really all that diverse. It has exactly one woman (Hillary), one African-American (Obama), and one Latino (Richardson). The other six, Biden, Dodd, Edwards, Gravel, Kucinich, and Vilsack, are all white dudes. That is about twice the level of white and male as the Democratic electorate, so while this is a step forward, obviously a lot of work is left to be done.
Richardson starts second tier, but considering the numerous niches he fills, he probably starts at the top of the second tier. The second tier includes, depending on who ends up running and who you talk to, as many as four other candidates: Clark, Vilsack, Kerry and Biden. He is extremely fiscally libertarian, and is quite liked even by CATO and Reason magazine. He can thus can be not only the experience candidate, but also the Latino candidate, the Western candidate, and the libertarian candidate (Markos might like that combination). If he can successfully swing all four of those niches, he will be top tier in no time. He also has a small, but solid, group of online supporters (5%-6% for fourth place, according to the last Dailykos straw poll, for example). Keep in mind that it isn't necessarily the amount of your online support, but what you do with it that counts.
Finally, what is up with Democrats announcing on weekends? My guess is that it is the Obama effect. His announcement strategy was so shrewd and well-timed that the remaining candidate had no good options left when it came to making their announcements. Or maybe it is just poor timing and campaign decision making, I don't know.
Richardson plans to announce on Sunday that he will soon file the papers to create a presidential exploratory committee, several officials with knowledge of his plans said Friday. The governor is scheduled to appear on ABC's "This Week."
His entry would make the Democratic race the most diverse presidential contest in history. Beside Richardson's bid to be the first Hispanic chief executive, Sen. Barack Obama would be the first black president and likely candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would be the first female president. Richardson is definitely the resume, experience and accomplishment candidate. His extensive experience in foreign relations (frequent high level diplomatic envoy and Ambassador to the UN), as Governor of New Mexico (chair of the DGA, no less), and as a member of Clinton's cabinet (Energy secretary) is impressive to the point of bordering on dreamy. And oh yeah, he was also in Congress and is a member of the largest emerging voting block in the country.
As far as making the field look more diverse, it is true. However, the field still isn't really all that diverse. It has exactly one woman (Hillary), one African-American (Obama), and one Latino (Richardson). The other six, Biden, Dodd, Edwards, Gravel, Kucinich, and Vilsack, are all white dudes. That is about twice the level of white and male as the Democratic electorate, so while this is a step forward, obviously a lot of work is left to be done.
Richardson starts second tier, but considering the numerous niches he fills, he probably starts at the top of the second tier. The second tier includes, depending on who ends up running and who you talk to, as many as four other candidates: Clark, Vilsack, Kerry and Biden. He is extremely fiscally libertarian, and is quite liked even by CATO and Reason magazine. He can thus can be not only the experience candidate, but also the Latino candidate, the Western candidate, and the libertarian candidate (Markos might like that combination). If he can successfully swing all four of those niches, he will be top tier in no time. He also has a small, but solid, group of online supporters (5%-6% for fourth place, according to the last Dailykos straw poll, for example). Keep in mind that it isn't necessarily the amount of your online support, but what you do with it that counts.
Finally, what is up with Democrats announcing on weekends? My guess is that it is the Obama effect. His announcement strategy was so shrewd and well-timed that the remaining candidate had no good options left when it came to making their announcements. Or maybe it is just poor timing and campaign decision making, I don't know.
Tags: Bill Richardson, President 2008 (all tags)
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