The Best Direction, the Best Resume
As the Democratic Party struggles for direction, the governor [Bill Richardson] and his supporters have been eager to offer one: the West.But there is more than style discussed in the article. Governor Richardson is a man of considerable substance:
Party strategists say that as the country's political landscape shifts, four of the biggest swing states are now in the West - Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.
"If Democrats are looking for a place to grow, where they've made progress, right now they're looking west," said Jennifer Duffy, editor of the Cook Political Report, which tracks elections across the country. "The West right now is a battleground."
That may explain many of Richardson's trappings. He hunts and rides horses. When a North Korean delegation came to Santa Fe, the state capital, for talks on that country's nuclear weapons program, he fed them green chile and sent them shopping for cowboy boots.
New Mexico's relatively small stage has never quite fit a man who has led an oversize political life: former U.S. secretary of energy, ambassador to the United Nations, a seven-term congressman, and now the state's most powerful governor in living memory.
Richardson has spent a lifetime positioning himself for this moment: He's a Latino at a time when the ethnic group's influence is growing. He's a Westerner as the region is becoming critical to the national strategies of both parties. And he's a powerful governor with impeccable foreign-policy credentials.
It may be the best résumé of any potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, and Richardson knows it.
Leo Brown | April 24, 2006 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) |
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(and yes, we know that sometimes they're very, very wrong. Other times, they're right on.)
