{"id":1311,"date":"2007-02-26T09:43:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-26T15:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/richardson-presidential-campaign-gaining-traction\/"},"modified":"2007-02-26T09:43:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-26T15:43:00","slug":"richardson-presidential-campaign-gaining-traction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/richardson-presidential-campaign-gaining-traction\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson presidential campaign gaining traction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The news keeps getting better for the presidential campaign of Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The governor is continuing a slow and steady rise in prominence since announcing on Jan. 21 that he was running for president. What remains to be seen is whether he can climb fast enough to catch the three frontrunners for the Democratic nomination.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Two days after former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack<\/a> announced that he was dropping out of the race because he couldn\u2019t raise enough cash, Richardson<\/st1:city>\u2019s campaign announced his first trip to Iowa<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> since he entered the race on Jan. 21.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:city> will be in that state on Friday and Saturday, and will speak to a number of small groups including young Democrats at Drake<\/st1:placename> University<\/st1:placetype> in Des Moines<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, the state\u2019s bloggers, women and union leaders.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A South Carolina<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> coup<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> announced Friday that he has hired two prominent South Carolina Democrats to work on his campaign in that early primary state. Running his organization there will be the man who is currently the executive director of that state\u2019s party, Lachlan McIntosh.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He will step down from the state party job.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

With South Carolina<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> hosting one of the nation\u2019s first four primary contests, it\u2019s a big catch for a candidate many don\u2019t think has a shot at the nomination. Many were surprised that McIntosh decided to work for Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that Governor Richardson is the right man for the job,\u201d McIntosh said in a news release. \u201cHe has the proven experience and record to solve the problems we are facing in America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> today and I am excited to be joining the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

You can read more from the Associated Press by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Taking Bush to task on Iran<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Washington Post ran a commentary<\/a> by Richardson<\/st1:city> taking the Bush Administration to task for its policies on Iran<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>. Citing the recent agreement that North Korea<\/st1:country-region> will disarm, Richardson<\/st1:city> wrote that diplomacy, not \u201csaber-rattling,\u201d would have solved the Korean crisis sooner and would also solve the situation with Iran<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cNo nation has ever been forced to renounce nuclear weapons, but many have chosen to do so. The Iranians will not end their nuclear program because we threaten them and call them names,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> wrote. \u201cThey will renounce nukes because we convince them that they will be safer and more prosperous if they do that than if they don\u2019t. This feat will take more than threats and insults. It will take skillful American diplomatic leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The column set off a debate on a number of blogs and other Internet sites.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A Western initiative on global warming<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:city> is in Washington<\/st1:city>, D.C.<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> today to attend a National Governors Association meeting. He and other governors will have dinner with President Bush this evening.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But this morning, Richardson<\/st1:city> furthered his image as a champion of combating global warming by announcing, along with the governors of Arizona<\/st1:state>, California<\/st1:state>, Oregon<\/st1:state> and Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, the formation of the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative to implement a joint strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The five governors signed an agreement directing their states to develop a regional target for reducing greenhouse gasses within the next six months, and to devise, within the next 18 months, a market-based program that may use a cap-and-trade system to reach the target.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The three states on the coast already had a joint initiative, as did Arizona<\/st1:state> and New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, so the partnership will build on both. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWith this agreement, states are once again taking the lead on combating global climate change while Washington<\/st1:city>, D.C.<\/st1:state> sits on its hands,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said in a news release. \u201cThis historic agreement signals our commitment to tackling the problem head on at the regional level and building on efforts in our individual states.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Captivating a crowd in Florida<\/st1:state><\/st1:place><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

On Saturday, 700 people showed up at an event in Florida<\/st1:state> to hear Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> speak, according to the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>. The crowds are growing in size.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> didn\u2019t get a turn to speak until late in the event, following the remarks of a number of local officials, and the crowd was distracted.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Until Richardson<\/st1:city> began speaking about the difficultly of calling families of New Mexico<\/st1:state> soldiers killed in Iraq<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to this president, I don\u2019t know how someone can be so blind to the hurt and anguish in this country, and so deaf to the will of the people,\u201d the Journal reported that Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> said. His words were followed by a hush in the room.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not presidential greatness,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a great tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:city> then received a standing ovation when he called for a troop withdrawal from Iraq<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And while others said they didn\u2019t think Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> can raise enough money to be the party\u2019s nominee for president, at least one Democrat at the event told the Journal that he shouldn\u2019t be underestimated, pointing to another governor and White House hopeful who was called an underdog 14 years ago.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody said Bill Clinton was an underdog when he came here,\u201d the Journal quoted Broward County Commissioner Eileen Lieberman as saying. \u201cIt\u2019s too early to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The news keeps getting better for the presidential campaign of Gov. Bill Richardson. The governor is continuing a slow and steady rise in prominence since announcing on Jan. 21 that he was running for president. What remains to be seen is whether he can climb fast enough to catch the three frontrunners for the Democratic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}