N.M. governor joining presidential field
Democrat touts his experience in various posts
WASHINGTON -- Democrat Bill Richardson took the first step yesterday toward a bid to become the first Hispanic president, saying the country needs his extensive experience as a governor, Cabinet secretary, and ambassador.
The 59-year-old New Mexico governor announced in a video posted on his website that he would set up an exploratory committee that will allow him to begin raising money and assembling his campaign organization.
His candidacy would make history because the field of Democratic candidates would be the most diverse ever. On Saturday, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York said she wants to be the first female president. Last week, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois jumped in, and if elected he would be the first black commander in chief.
Clinton made her first public appearance yesterday since announcing her candidacy. She visited a Manhattan community health clinic, where she promoted a federal children's healthcare program.
"I'm looking forward to it," Clinton said of the campaign. "It'll be a great contest with a lot of talented people and I'm very confident."
Richardson, whose father was an international banker from Boston and whose mother was Mexican, said he believes the country "has changed enough" so that voters are ready for a woman or minority president.
"The country is looking for somebody who, one, brings the country together -- a unifier, a healer," Richardson said. "And two, somebody who gets things done. "
A former UN ambassador, Energy Department secretary, and US representative, Richardson stressed his experience. He said he wants US troops to return quickly from Iraq and urged a change of leadership in Washington that would work to bridge a wide partisan divide.
"What this country needs is bipartisanship and to bring back civility" in government, he said. "I've actually done what a lot of candidates give speeches on."
Polls show Richardson far behind the Democratic front-runners: Clinton, Obama, and 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards. The New Mexican concedes that raising money for a presidential race will be challenging.
"As an underdog and governor of a small, Western state, I will not have the money that other candidates will have. However, I believe these serious times demand serious people, who have real-world experience in solving the challenges we face. I humbly believe I'm the best-equipped candidate to meet these challenges."
On Iraq, he advocates using diplomacy to broker an end to conflict by bringing together interested nations and persuading donor countries to help rebuild the country's infrastructure. He said US troops should be redeployed by the end of the year to Afghanistan and other regions in the Persian Gulf.
Richardson is a native of Pasadena, Calif. He settled in New Mexico after working several years in Washington, partly because of the state's large Hispanic population. He served in the House from 1982 until 1996, when President Clinton named him UN ambassador.
In 1998, he joined the Clinton Cabinet as energy secretary. During his term as secretary, he was criticized for his handling of a scandal at New Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory over the loss of computer equipment with nuclear secrets.
Richardson is a graduate of Tufts University, where he received a master's degree in international affairs. He was an adjunct professor at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2001.
At the Manhattan clinic, Clinton said she will introduce legislation to expand the federal Children's Health Insurance Program to all families who need it, regardless of income.
Reflecting her new status as a leading presidential contender, the room was packed with reporters and photographers from as far away as Germany.
Clinton appeared onstage gripping the hands of Olivia Harden, 1, and her sister, Camilla, 3, whose parents said they rely on the health insurance program for their daughters' healthcare. The girls looked bewildered as hundreds of cameras flashed.
"It's simply wrong for any child to lack healthcare in America. That's where we start," Clinton said.
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Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday, former GOP House speaker Newt Gingrich, who is considering a 2008 bid, said he thought Obama "forced Senator Clinton's hand by weeks. I mean, he has gained ground so rapidly that I think she sort of thought she had to remind her friends she was around."
