Thursday, February 22nd, 2007...9:15 am
Where is the Love for Bill?
The American Prospect is carrying an article called “Fitting the Bill: Why isn’t Bill Richardson’s presidential candidacy taken seriously?” In it, Matthew Yglesias goes through some of the reasons why Bill Richardson’s candidacy hasn’t garnered very much interest from the national media.
I’ve wondered about this myself. As Yglesias points out, Richardson is a two-term governor, exactly the sort of person that usually gets “prominently mentioned” as a candidate. Unlike the last four governors that we have elected president, Richardson can actually claim extensive foreign policy experience. I can’t think of any other governors, and few (if any) presidential candidates, who can claim to have stared down the leaders of North Korea or negotiated cease-fires in Sudan.
Richardson’s time in the House and as Governor of New Mexico is actually longer than the time in national elective office of the three leading candidates combined. This doesn’t even include his time as United Nations ambassador and as a cabinet seceretary. Also, the three top names have no executive experience.
Yglesias has his own explanation about why Richardson isn’t being taken as seriously as he should be. He doesn’t touch on one issue that I’ve been curious about: why isn’t Richardson’s status as the first serious Hispanic candidate for president being talked about more? In the case of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, they aren’t actually the “first.” In Richarson’s case, he is. You’d think that a candidate that is a “first” like this with as impressive a background as Richardson has would attract more attention from the press.
NB - In 1980, a Hispanic buisnessman ran in the Republican primaries. I can’t find any reference to his name anywhere on the internet or the various sites that chronicle the New Hampshire primary.
Another thing: back in 2000, the press was gushing everytime George W. Bush would spout a Berlitz phrase and say “he is bilingual.” It’s been seven years, and I have yet to see Bush do an interview in Spanish or say more than “Bwaynoss Dee-us.” Richardson, on the other hand, does speak Spanish. I know this because my mom, a native speaker, has spoken Spanish with him.
6 Comments
February 22nd, 2007 at 10:47 am
Great article from The American Prospect! I like Richardson and he would be my second choice right now behind Edwards. However, I’m not firmly committed to Edwards and was troubled by some of the back and forth between his camp and the Kerry people last week regarding how willing Edwards was to go after Bush and Cheney when the latter two started to sling mud at Kerry in 2004.
I would wager that Richardson attracts little buzz right now because of all these reasons:
-he is from a small state
-the money ain’t rolling in
-he hasn’t said anything to get headlines or set himself apart from the pack
-he doesn’t physically fit the stereotype of a president
-too much media attention is given to the MUCH LESS IMPRESSIVE duo of Clinton and Obama
Richardson needs to do what he can to attract some buzz among the general population, not just the political junkies. He isn’t even discussed much here and we are right next door to him. I was impressed with the tone and substance of his speech before the DNC, but would like to see what he can do to get attention and get organized. Were he to catch fire on the ground in Iowa and finish second or third there, watch out! I also think he may stand out in terms of both knowledge and style when debates begin in earnest.
February 22nd, 2007 at 5:13 pm
We have all seen where some really good candidates slip through cracks simply because there is a bigger, wealthier, and more glamorous campaign out there. It happens all the time.
February 26th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
It’s worth noting though that Clinton’s announcement was timed to steal the headline from Richardson– clearly they worry about him.
Also, the last Gallup poll, while it had Richardson at 4%, showed that the two putative ‘contenders’ with Clinton, Obama and Edwards, had pretty much stalled out. So barring something that really blasts the dynamics of the race out of the water (i.e. a Gore announcement that he is running) there is still plenty of time for Richardson. And just recently he held a fundraiser that raised $2 million, so it’s not like he’s broke or incapable of raising funds.
February 26th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Richardson is my first choice. His website is www.richardsonforpresident.com, if you’ll allow the shameless plug.
February 27th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Michael:
I agree. Another upside for Richardson is that while right now he may be polling about 4%, it is likely that those are people who know about him and are for him. In contrast I would suspect that the support for, say, Obama is largely ’soft’ support– i.e. support he has gotten since he got all that press coverage (and maybe some which is anti-Hillary) but which could easily shift to another candidate. In other words, this early in the race it might be better to have a solid 4% base that could grow than to have 19% which may include a base of unknown size and which could shrink as well as it might grow.
February 27th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Also, michael:
I am working with a small group of people around the state who are supporting Richardson. We don’t really have a website or anything but if you want to get involved then email me.
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