PORTSMOUTH, N.H. --Presidential hopeful Bill Richardson joked his wife was more interested in the family cats' food than his new book on energy policy.
"In the governor's mansion in New Mexico, my wife is first lady and she has two cats that she considers more important than the governor. She says to me, 'What are you doing with the cat food from China?'" Richardson said to laughter during a forum Thursday on climate change.
His response to his wife: "I'm developing a global climate change plan, let me get back to you."
Richardson, a former energy secretary, spent Thursday promoting his ideas on energy. He signed copies of his new book, "Leading By Example: How We Can Inspire An Energy and Security Revolution," for supporters in Concord and later spoke at a forum on energy security.
"We've all talked about a lot of goals and standards and mandates. It's going to take political action to do it," Richardson said. "Everything I said to you, I'm going to be honest with you: The special interests are going to hate this. They're going to fight it."
He said it's going to take public funding of elections to reduce lobbyists' influence, but it won't do it entirely.
"Sen. (John) Edwards says he wants to get rid of 22,000 lobbyists," Richardson said. "Well, that's great. How are you going to do that? Shoot them?"
Richardson's 10-year plan for shifting the nation's energy focus away from foreign oil includes the goal of cutting in half by 2020 the country's dependence on oil, and getting 30 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Richardson also would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and 90 percent by 2050.
Plug-in cars and 50-miles-per-gallon fuel economy standards for conventional cars are part of the Richardson plan.
One voter asked Richardson what he was doing to help reduce his environmental impact. Richardson demurred when he acknowledged he used a private jet for much of his campaign travel.
"When you're an underdog and you have to hit three states in one day, I charter a plane," he said. "And that's not very energy efficient."
