(that picture has a funky angle on it or something)New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the nation's only Hispanic governor, is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president, calling him a "once-in-a-lifetime leader" who can unite the nation and restore America's international leadership.
Richardson, who dropped out of the Democratic race in January, is to appear with Obama on Friday at a campaign event in Portland, Ore., The Associated Press has learned.
The governor's endorsement comes as Obama leads among delegates selected at primaries and caucuses but with national public opinion polling showing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton pulling ahead of him amid controversy over statements by his former pastor.
Richardson has been relentlessly wooed by Obama and Clinton for his endorsement. As a Democratic superdelegate, the governor plays a part in the tight race for nominating votes and could bring other superdelegates to Obama's side. He also has been mentioned as a potential running mate for either candidate.
I am not a fan or Richardson whatsoever despite his credentials and what he has done for me personally. A lot of this is personal. It has to do with what he helped orchestrate against a friend's family. He has been fingered as the major source of information to the media (aka leaks) that time and again made as much pro-gov spin as possible (biasing the media). This could be seen as something I am just ticked about and its my problem.
Let's stop and look at him now. Richardson has been tagged as a lame duck governor and he's just biding his time until he's tapped for something in Washington in the presumed next administration. Do you remember his boasting about making health care available in New Mexico to one and all? it's dead. Really dead. As soon as he stopped campaigning for President, he stopped pushing for it. New Mexico as a whole is a very poor state. The majority of NMicans would have really benefited from this. If Richardson was really serious about this issue, rather than merely grandstanding for the party primaries, he'd be still pushing for this in the NM legislature. He's not.
Draw your own conclusions.
Anyways, Richardson has endorsed Obama. From what I can read of the Democratic Party tea leaves, this is something that will carry some positive weight within the party. This is something of a slap to the Clintons since Richardson has been so close with them.
It's notable that Richardson only done this after it looks like Obama's going to get the nomination.
Actually, we're some of the few people outside political circles who have known it's extremely unlikely for Clinton to gain the nomination by the current delegate count for as long as we have. The story just hit the mainstream media in a "think" piece today.
ReplyDelete(There were people in the mainstream media who ran the numbers the same time I did. They didn't bother reporting it. This is because most media is not in the business of news or analysis, but rather the business of sorting viewers for the convenience of advertisers.)
Richardson is important principally because of his timing to push this narrative. I think he's canny enough to know it, because it does all seem to be about the narrative for him, doesn't it? He's like Biden in that respect. Or Specter.