Bill Richardson's Blueprint For Victory In Iowa

Convinced he's on an upswing to a strong Iowa finish, BIll Richardson plans to emphasize his record on domestic policy issues during the final four weeks.

"I think we've done a great job establishing on his policy bona fides. Despite what Hillary Clinton says, Richardson clearly has the most foreign policy experience," says Tom Reynolds, Richardson's aide, in a telephone interview from Council Bluffs, Iowa

So -- the campaign will focus on bread and butter issues, highlighting Richardson's record as a steward of New Mexico's economy, his proposals on education and health care, the environment and energy.

Today, Richardson unveils his agriculture polocy, giving a speech he's titled “A New Direction for American Agriculture.” An excerpt: "Fairness has been corrupted by campaign financing. President Bush signed away the family farm to big agribusiness. We can do better. We need a new direction for American agriculture. One that seizes the opportunities presented by renewable fuel possibilities, that makes conservation a real priority, and levels the playing field for family farmers and independent producers."

The campaign is also adding a new ad to their rotation. It's about education and refers to his support for a complete scrap of "No Child Left Behind." Richardson wants teachers to earn at least $40,000 at the start of their career. He'd pay for more education spending, he says, by cutting weapons programs.

Comments

Clinton invited Richardson to join the race. He is not running against her, he is running with her against Edwards and Obama.

Posted by JC | November 27, 2007 12:14 PM

Richardson says he wants a $40,000 national minimum yearly wage for teachers, but in the State of New Mexico the average yearly salary for teachers is less than $40,000.

Posted by Peace Voter | November 27, 2007 2:09 PM

You need to start telling the whole truth, Peace Voter, and not twisting it to fit your snarks on Governor Richardson. It's the difference in what is true and what is the truth.

Bill Richardson's first act as Governor was to raise teacher salaries. At the beginning of Governor Richardson's tenure, New Mexico ranked 46th in the country in teacher pay, now it is 29th.

In addition, Governor Richardson considers teacher certification a high priority, and has provided more incentives for increasing the numbers of his state's national board certified teachers. As a result, Education Week showed that New Mexico moved from 30th to 17th in teacher quality in 2005.

Driven to improve New Mexico's schools, Governor Richardson implemented his "Making Schools Work" initiative and as a result his state was ranked 2nd in the nation for school reform by the Fordham Foundation. He also cut administrative overhead and added over $600 million directly into classrooms, where it belongs. Full day kindergarten is now in place throughout New Mexico and the state has also taken the bold steps necessary to provide pre-kindergarten to every four-year-old.

That's the record, Peace Voter, and while New Mexico is certainly not where it should be, it has come a long way with Bill Richardson as Governor.

You need to give credit where credit is due, instead of looking for ways to tear down the next Democratic nominee for President.

Posted by David Buchanan | November 27, 2007 3:28 PM

JC

You are way off. I've followed all these candidates since 2004. Just like the others Governor Richardson started taking steps to place himself in this race the day after Kerry lost. Luckily, we have a Governor in this race on the Democratic side. The last Senator who was able to win a Presidential election was 47 years ago. Before that you have to look at the Elections prior to World War I to find a Senator who could win a general election. If you make an assertion that Senator Clinton invited Governor Richardson to run please cite an interview or some facts that suggest that even if an offhand comment was made, that comment was the driving reason behind his candidancy. If you cannot don't make such a bold claim.

Posted by TCW | November 27, 2007 6:58 PM

Richardson offers America honesty and strength of character in a President that we desparately need. He has the potential of being a great President that can heal America and restore our place in the world.

Posted by Stephen Cassidy | November 27, 2007 7:08 PM

Richardson has been the "anti-war" candidate, but that makes him too one-dimensional. His 2 terms in New Mexico show a strength, vision and pragmatism that is very attractive in our partisan world. When he starts running on his record, especially as it compares to a senator's record, he'll win hands down.

Posted by Expat Teacher | November 27, 2007 7:17 PM

Richardson offers the truth? He has flip flopped on getting troops out, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, under a year. He supported the Biden-Gelb exit strategy, then sided with the Bush Administration saying that partitioning Iraq was wrong. We all know the plan isn't partition. Has he even read the Biden-Gelb plan or the Iraqi Constitution? Come on, let's be serious. The vast majority of iraqi leaders, foreign policy experts and military experts agree with Biden. Richardson may be the worst panderer out there. His resume is long but thin in terms of accomplishments. Point to one other than the hostage negotiation. And was it actually Richardson's presence that brought the hostages home? Or was it America's leverage. Yes he was there but to say he did all these things as a peace envoy is crap. Look at Darfur, no progress. Didn't do much good in Somalia. North Korea, didn't stop them. What has this guy done but jump around like a hack from state to state, job to job. Nobody takes him serious. He has some flimsy poll figures because he's dumped money in ads, but not one Iowa endorsement and his SC State Chair bounced because of his thoughless, irresponsible withdrawl proposal. He still hasn't layed out a concrete plan for political reconciliation, proving he doesn't know what to do over there or where to start.

Posted by JoeD | November 27, 2007 10:59 PM

You wanna try attacking Richardson on the issues, Joe; or is this the typical Biden modus operandi from Plaigrism Joe? You need to ask folks like John Early or Paul Salobek whether Richardson's actions got them released from the Sudan. Obama couldn't do it, he tried (at least in the case of Salobek). At the time, Obama was a sitting U.S. Senator and Governor Richardson was no longer a representative of the U.S. Government. But he got it done.

Tell us how many hostage negotiations that Senator Biden has facilitated? Please do not include the millions of Americans he put in hostage to debt through his active support of the so-called bankruptcy reform legislation.

Biden, for all of his talk about all he has done, still can't seem to get above the margin of error in Iowa, while Governor Richardson's support is doubling in the same period.

Posted by David Buchanan | November 28, 2007 12:17 AM

To me, Bill Richardson conveys straightforward competence and down-to-earth realism. The two Democratic TV stars both reach in a different direction, projecting over-produced personae of popularity and "electability," whatever that means.

I would like to see someone of Richardson's character in the White House, regardless of party. Sadly, it seems that honest statespersons (conservative and liberal) get better traction in Canada than the here in US.

Posted by KSA | November 30, 2007 7:48 AM

Im posting these predictions all over the internet, long before the "media" picks up on it.

The Democratic nominees for President & Vice President in 2008 will be Richardson/Edwards (or vice versa)

The Republican nominees for President & Vice President in 2008 will be Huckabee/Romney (or vice versa)

The New York based media (most egregiously Chris Matthews from Hardball) has been propagandizing this fallacy that Rudy and Hillary have some sort of "lock" on the nomination for the last several months (and even years) before the primaries. Ive been predicting the fall of both of these candidates from their inexplicable leading positions in the polls (due mostly to negatives that will make them both too controversial to win in the general), and second place runners Obama / McCain will also both prove too unelectable to get the nominations (Obama is too inexperienced and too open to the Republican attack machine with things like his name and Muslim connection, while McCain is still too disliked and mistrusted by alot of Republicans).

Primary voters are serious voters, and both sides want to win desperately in what is possibly THE most important election in the country's history(coming as it does after THE worst president of all time). Electability and experience are the keys (in addition to moderate and non-partisan swing voter appeal), and these phony "rock star" party favorites (ie the current "frontrunners") arent going to make it in the general, with more people than ever rightly declaring themselves to be independents and leaving both major parties in disgust.

I feel very confident that predictions will turn out correct (and will make for a very interesting race too). Place your bets and youll clean up next November.

Posted by saintsubversive | November 30, 2007 12:19 PM