Here’s my understanding of how Gov. Bill Richardson’s announcement that he’s running for president will play out:
On Sunday, he will appear on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos to make some sort of announcement – either that he will soon form an exploratory committee, or that he’ll announce his decision on Monday, or something that is a major announcement but provides few details.
That’s designed so that he can keep his promise that he will make the announcement in New Mexico.
Sometime Monday, he will hold a news conference in Santa Fe to lay out further details or make a more definite announcement.
I’ll report more details as I get them.
Richardson’s announcement will span almost four days, then, since it leaked on Friday, and that may be by design. It’s quite possible Friday’s leak was intentional and designed to earn the governor even more press.
Or it might have been leaked to grab some headlines before today’s announcement by Sen. Hillary Clinton that she is forming a 2008 exploratory committee – an announcement that promises to overshadow Richardson’s declaration.
Richardson’s announcement comes just days after Barack Obama’s and, for all practical purposes, at the same time as Clinton’s, and they are the two Democratic frontrunners. This firmly establishes Richardson as an underdog, but I suspect that’s exactly where he wants to be.
This Week airs in the Las Cruces area at 9 a.m. Sunday on ABC-7. It doesn’t air until 4 p.m. throughout the rest of New Mexico on KOAT-7, and by then it will be old news. Check back here Sunday morning for complete coverage.