Gov. Bill Richardson was the only Democratic presidential candidate who wasn’t involved in the fighting that characterized Tuesday’s candidate forum in Chicago. Those who support candidates who don’t attack were probably impressed but, for many, it probably meant he wasn’t noticed at all.
The controversy-hungry media gave little mention to Richardson in articles about the debate. His answers didn’t demand much attention.
Frontrunner Hillary Clinton was assaulted repeatedly by Barack Obama and John Edwards. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd came to Clinton’s defense with harsh words for her critics. Dennis Kucinich attacked everyone. At one point, it seemed that everyone on stage except Richardson was going after Obama.
The other Democrat in the race, Mike Gravel, didn’t attend.
While Clinton has clearly dominated every other debate held thus far, this forum was different. She was attacked for previous comments defending lobbyists and, when asked about it, failed to answer the question. But all candidates, including Richardson, repeatedly failed to answer the questions that were asked. That, coupled with the fighting for which this debate will be remembered, makes it hard to declare a winner.
Richardson, as has been the case in most debates, was for some reason the last to be asked a question. His first was about the highway collapse in Minnesota and whether privatizing roads is the answer. He responded by saying it’s not, then saying he wants to eliminate the money Congress sets aside for earmarks and end “corporate welfare.” He said those proposals, combined, would free up almost $100 billion annually to invest in infrastructure.
He mentioned investing in “new forms of transportation” such as commuter rails, in addition to rebuilding existing infrastructure.
Richardson didn’t answer his second question about whether he would scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement or fix it, instead talking about what criteria he would have for future trade agreements.
He got a free pass, however, because none of the NAFTA critics on stage or the moderator, MSNBC’s Keith Oberman, seemed to know or care that he was the representative responsible for securing enough votes in the U.S. House of Representatives for approval of NAFTA in the mid-1990s. When Edwards took a shot at “Washington insiders” who negotiated NAFTA, he didn’t mention Richardson. Oberman gave Clinton time to respond to that attack, but not Richardson.
Richardson also failed to answer a question about what he would do if, after he pulled U.S. troops out of Iraq, al-Qaida took control of that nation. However, none of the candidates answered the question.
Richardson failed to answer a third question when a former manufacturing worker in Iowa asked what he would do to keep manufacturing jobs in the United States. The man was an Iraq veteran, and Richardson began what could have been a great answer by pointing out that he was recently in the man’s hometown and met with others who had been laid off, like the veteran, when a Maytag plant moved to Mexico.
Then, instead of answering the question about manufacturing, he botched his response by talking about improving the Veterans Administration and health care for veterans.
Richardson tried to be the uniter on stage, saying, as he’s done before, that any of the other candidates would make an excellent vice president and calling himself a healer who can bring the nation together. But his peace offerings were overshadowed by the war between the other candidates. Had Richardson’s answers been more memorable, he might have stood out, but they weren’t. He didn’t even grab attention for having to be forcibly cut off by the moderator, something that has characterized his past debate performances.
Not all agree with my analysis. NBC’s Chuck Todd wrote that Richardson “is going to be the under-the-radar candidate; it’s obvious; he’s not getting involved in the bashing of Obama, Edwards and Clinton and that could pay dividends in Iowa.”
But the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza didn’t even mention Richardson because he was captivated by fighting. And a live-blogging exchange on the Huffington Post went like this after Richardson failed to answer the question about al-Qaida and Iraq:
John (7:37:50 PM): Oh, Richardson. He showed such promise.
Matt (7:38:08 PM): Not Richardson’s best showing on the Iraq question.
John (7:38:17 PM): He really does speak as if there is a big key sticking out of his back.
John (7:38:48 PM): Wind him up and watch him go.
You can watch the full debate by clicking here.
Gov. Bill Richardson was the only Democratic presidential candidate who wasn’t involved in the fighting that characterized Tuesday’s candidate forum in