Gov. Bill Richardson followed a poor showing in the first Democratic presidential candidate debate in April with a better performance tonight.
Though he held his own, the format of the debate wasn’t conducive to helping second-tier candidates, and he did have a few poor moments. Barack Obama and John Edwards rose to the top in the debate, with Hillary Clinton not far behind. Joe Biden stood out among second-tier candidates, and was followed by Chris Dodd and Richardson.
No candidate had a poor showing.
First, on the debate format: I thought CNN did a poor job. The cable network obviously designed the evening to give the top candidates most of the attention. Clinton was centered in the middle, with Obama and Edwards on her left and right. Then it was Richardson and Biden and Dodd, with Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich on the ends. The camera focused on the big three in the center most of the time. They got to answer more questions and, it seemed to me, were given more time to respond.
That’s about ratings. It’s not a service to the public.
Richardson only got to answer one question in the first 27 minutes of the debate. He wasn’t allowed to participate much in a heated discussion about Iraq that will grab most of the night’s headlines.
That said, Richardson appeared more competent than he did during the first debate. On the most basic level, he wasn’t covered in sweat and didn’t look like he was overly caffeinated and out of control like he did last time. He appeared calm and in control of himself.
Richardson knew all of that.
“I did well,” he told Anderson Cooper after the debate, while also expressing concern that he didn’t get as much time to speak as some of the frontrunners.
According to Dodd’s blog, Richardson spoke for 10 minutes and 48 seconds during the two-hour debate. Obama spoke the longest – 16 minutes – and Gravel spoke the least – five minutes and 37 seconds.
It was notable that Richardson’s wife Barbara was present at tonight’s debate, a fact that was pointed out twice during the event. She was noticeably absent from the last debate, and Richardson was wandering around on stage by himself after that event while other candidates talked with family members.
I also have to note that, though I know the camera adds 10 pounds, Richardson appears to have gained back most of the 30 or so pounds he lost before entering the presidential race in January.
Now, on to what was said: Obama, who I thought failed to answer a single question during the first debate, did an excellent job tonight of not only answering questions, but appearing strong, poised and more mature than his years.
Edwards came out on the attack against Obama and Clinton and appeared competent and intelligent. Clinton held her own, but didn’t do as well as Edwards and Obama. Biden was strong – perhaps as strong as Clinton, though CNN’s format didn’t give him the equal attention that would make that easily apparent.
Richardson’s strong moments
Richardson’s best moment didn’t involve anything he said. It was when Clinton, speaking about how to deal with Iran, said the United States needs “the kind of diplomacy that Bill Richardson did for my husband.”
Richardson had the sense later in the debate to thank Clinton for her kind words. It caused one CNN analyst to speculate that a Clinton-Richardson ticket is in the works.
Richardson did have some strong moments of his own, all of them in the second half of the debate. He gained the most attention by saying that, in dealing with genocide in Darfur, the United States should pressure China, which buys lots of oil from Sudan, to get involved in the crisis. He said the United States should consider boycotting the upcoming summer Olympics in China if that nation won’t help stop the killing.
That set off a testy debate. In the end, only Edwards agreed with him.
Richardson also earned applause and set himself apart when he said veterans should be able to get health care at any hospital, not be required to visit facilities in the veterans’ affairs system.
“Some of our veterans have to go 150 miles, especially in rural areas,” Richardson said about the current system.
Richardson’s flubs
Richardson exacerbated the fact that CNN let him answer few questions during the first hour when, while responding to the first two questions, he stayed to his talking points instead of directly answering questions. Wolf Blitzer pushed him back to the questions and he eventually answered them, but his responses were awkward and he didn’t come across as a quick thinker.
Richardson’s worst moment came during a discussion about gas prices. A few of the candidates were asked how they would lower gas prices (some weren’t allowed to speak on the subject at all). Richardson was instead asked whether he believes oil companies are engaged in price gouging. He botched his answer by at first saying the federal government needs to give states the authority to investigate price gouging, then saying he doesn’t believe oil companies are engaging in price gouging.
If the oil companies aren’t doing it, why do the states need to spend taxpayer money investigating them?
Richardson then tried to answer the question the others were asked – how would they lower gas prices? – and he was cut off, which wasn’t fair.
Another weak moment came when he insisted that he can provide universal health care for all without raising taxes. That, coupled with Edwards’ insistence that such assertions are “not the truth,” made Richardson appear as one who makes promises he may not be able to keep. Edwards, though he made the unpopular pledge to raise taxes to pay for universal health care, came across as honest in essentially calling Richardson a liar.
Others’ thoughts on Richardson
Democratic strategist and CNN analyst James Carville said Richardson “didn’t do as well as I’ve seen him do in the past.” Most commenting on the liberal blog DailyKos thought Richardson did poorly.
Arianna Huffington said on CNN that Richardson spent so much time “reminding us that he’s a governor” that he didn’t articulate what he’s doing right now, which she said was a weakness.
On the flip side, one New Hampshire voter, interviewed on CNN after the debate, said he favors Richardson after watching the debate. He said the governor “seemed to be a problem solver and had practical ideas.” Another said Richardson was one of his favorites, saying he was very “practical-minded” and “doesn’t have a lot of the jargon” of the Washington insiders. CNN analyst John Roberts also said he thought Richardson did well.
It’s interesting that most of the pundits generally said Richardson did a poor job, while two of the three New Hampshire voters interviewed on CNN after the debate said he did a good job. Richardson has been saying all along he’s focusing on talking with voters, not securing big endorsements or grabbing media attention. He’s been rising in the polls. Maybe it’s working.
After the debate, Richardson’s campaign Web site declared him “a clear winner.”
You can watch the debate by clicking here.
Gov. Bill Richardson followed a poor showing in the first Democratic presidential candidate debate in April with a better performance tonight.