David Brooks of The New York Times Weighs In With His Thoughts on the Richardson Candidacy

David Brooks, Op-Ed Columnist for the New York Times
Published March 4, 2007
Neither Clinton, Nor Obama
reprinted without permission

So there I was, sitting in my office, quietly contemplating suicide. I was watching a cattle call of Democratic presidential candidates on C-Span. In their five-minute speeches, they were laying it on thick with poll-tested, consultant-driven clichés of the Our Children Are Our Future variety. The thought of having to spend the next two years listening to this drivel set me wondering if it was literally possible to be bored to death.

Then Bill Richardson walked onstage. He was dressed differently — in slacks and a sports jacket. He told jokes that didn’t seem repeated for the 5,000th time. He seemed recognizably human, unlike some of his overpolished peers. He gave the best presentation, by far.

Then a heretical question entered my head: What if Richardson does this well at forums for the next 10 months? Is it possible to imagine him as a leading candidate for the nomination?

When you think that way, it becomes absurdly easy to picture him rising toward the top. He is, after all, the most experienced person running for president. He served in Congress for 14 years. He was the energy secretary (energy’s kind of vital).

He’s a successful two-term governor who was re-elected with 69 percent of the vote in New Mexico, a red state. Moreover, he’s a governor with foreign policy experience. He was U.N. ambassador. He worked in the State Department. He’s made a second career of negotiating on special assignments with dictators like Saddam, Castro and Kim Jong Il. He negotiated a truce in Sudan.

Most of all, he’s not a senator. Since 1961, 40 senators have run for president and their record is 0-40. A senator may win this year, but you’d be foolish to assume it.
When it comes to policy positions, he’s perfectly positioned — not by accident — to carry liberals and independents. As governor, he’s covered the normal Democratic bases: he raised teacher pay, he expanded children’s health insurance, he began programs to stall global warming, he built a light rail line.

But he also cut New Mexico’s top income tax rate from 8.2 percent to 4.9 percent. He handed out tax credits to stimulate economic growth. (He’s the only Democrat completely invulnerable on the tax cut issue.) He supports free trade, with reservations. And he not only balanced the budget — he also ran a surplus.

On cultural issues, Richardson has the distinct advantage of not setting off any culture war vibes. He was in college in the late 1960s, but he was listening to the Beach Boys, not Janis Joplin. He was playing baseball in the Cape Cod League, not going to Woodstock. He idolized Humphrey, not McCarthy.

Richardson is actually something of a throwback pol — a Daley or La Guardia who doesn’t treat politics as a moral crusade. That might appeal this year.

On the nuts and bolts of the campaign, he has some advantages as well. He won’t have the $150 million war chests that Clinton and Obama will have. On the other hand, he won’t have the gigantic apparatuses that fund-raising on that scale requires. While those campaigns may be bloated, overmanaged and remote, Richardson has the potential to be small and nimble.

Furthermore, he could generate waves of free media the way John McCain did in 2000. He’s a reporters’ favorite — candid, accessible and fun to be around. “I’m a real person, not canned. I don’t have a whole bunch of advisers. I’m a little overweight, though I’m trying to dress better,” he told me last week. So far, rumors of personal peccadilloes are unfounded.

Finally, there is the matter of his personal style. This is his biggest drawback. He’s baggy-faced, sloppy (we like our leaders well groomed), shamelessly ambitious and inelegant. On the other hand, once a century or so the Democratic Party actually nominates somebody the average person would like to have a beer with. Bill Richardson is that kind of guy.

He is garrulous, amusing, touchy-feely (to a fault), a little rough-edged and comfortably mass-market. He’s Budweiser, not microbrew. It doesn’t hurt that he’s Hispanic and Western.

In short, when you try to think forward to next winter, you see that this campaign will at some point leave the “American Idol”/“Celebrity Deathmatch” phase. The Clinton-Obama psychodrama may cease to fascinate while the sheer intensity of coverage will create a topsy-turvy series of revolutions.

I wouldn’t bet a paycheck on Richardson. But I wouldn’t count him out. At the moment, he’s the candidate most likely to rise.

Governor Richardson: A Candidate of Substance and Solutions

Bill Richardson, the most qualified candidate for President in the Democratic field, states his case for the nomination before the working men and women of AFSCME at this Carson City, Nevada forum held February 21, 2007.

Part One


Part Two

Watch Richardson's Speech at the 2007 DNC Winter Meetings

Part One


Part Two

Watch Governor Richardson's Hardball Appearance (1/22)

Let's Move America Forward!

Experience counts.

This quality as a Democratic candidate for President in 2008 sets Governor Bill Richardson apart from all other contenders from either party. As our nation forges ahead, repairing the damage from the litany of ideologically-fueled mishaps and blunders of the Bush administration, it will be the duty of our next President to restore American credibility to the world and continue the promise of prosperity and compassion within our nation that seemed in such attainable grasp at the end of the 20th century. This will be no easy task that a simple shift of power in the executive branch can achieve, as much as we Democrats may like to believe. There will rest a tremendous responsibility of restoration in this regard with whoever may hold the office and we must consider who will be best-equipped to face any adversity ahead for our nation. My friends, no amount of eloquence and inspiration in speech or hope for continued greatness on familial relation can substitute for experience.

It's time for us to spread the word as best we can. In the coming months, I'd like to invite all members of our Kentucky for Richardson group at Zanby.com to publish anything pertinent to the Governor's campaign on this blog if they wish. Simply e-mail me at kevin@harmonic-media.com and I'll be happy to copy and paste whatever blog entry you wish into the main page so that we may give all his supporters here in Kentucky a chance to sound off. Please include what you'd like the subject header of your message to be. Working together, we can achieve greater awareness of our candidate.

National Richardson Meetup Day is February 6. At present, our group is very small so no events have been scheduled at the present time for the Kentucky region. However, as word continues to spread and our group hopefully increases in number, forthcoming arrangements will be made to give us all an opportunity to meet and carry on with raising awareness of the candidacy of the next President of the United States.

A Message From the Governor:

Kentucky For Richardson Launches!

Hello and welcome to the Blogspot for the Kentucky For Richardson group!
In the coming months, our mission is to spread the word about Governor Bill Richardson.

News stories, Richardson TV appearances and editorial comments regarding his possible run to the White House in 2008 will be posted for viewing by anyone who may be interested!

If you're a Kentuckian, we hope you'll be interested in joining the Kentucky For Richardson group at Zanby.com to network with like-minded folks within our Commonwealth!


You Can Join Us Here:
http://kentucky-for-richardson.groups.zanby.com/

Stay Tuned! More to come shortly!