New Mexico Gov. Richardson pans for electoral gold in California

By MICHAEL COLLINS
Scripps Howard News Service
Tuesday, May 22, 2007

As he campaigns for president, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is fond of telling California audiences that he's one of them.

Richardson's parents lived in Mexico City, but he was born in Pasadena. His father was so determined that his son be born in the United States that he drove his wife to California to give birth.

"In my speeches, I joke and say even though I only spent three hours here, I was born here -- I'm a Californian," Richardson said. "My roots are rapidly expanding."

Whether his roots are in California or not, Richardson has been spending so much time in the Golden State that he's starting to feel like, if not a native son, at least an adopted one.

The decision to move up California's presidential primary to Feb. 5 is forcing candidates in both parties to pay more attention to a state that once was regarded as nothing more than a money machine.

But for Richardson, 59, California is not just another stop at the bank. It's a state that he believes is crucial to his chances of winning the Democratic nomination. His campaign considers California so important that on Monday he formally launched his candidacy in Los Angeles.

A big, gregarious guy with a fondness for cowboy boots, Richardson is the only Hispanic and the only Western-state governor in the race -- factors that, along with his record on the environment and civil rights, he believes will go over well in California.

"I know California," Richardson said in an interview last week. "I've raised money there before. I know a lot of the political leaders. We have a lot of joint California-New Mexico projects on energy. I've worked with (Republican Gov. Arnold) Schwarzenegger on a lot of clean-energy, Western-governor issues."

At campaign stops in California, Richardson talks about the need for a president who cares about transportation and about the need for sensible land-use and smart-growth policies.

"California is a perfect example of a lack of planning from the federal side on highways, the need for alternative modes of transportation, whether it's light rail or bullet trains or energy-efficient transportation or effective land-use policies," he said.

"I believe the president should lead, and I would be a partner with California as president in, for instance, the annual highway bill that contains billions for highways and light rails, to have joint policies with California to promote bonding."

As president, Richardson said he also would put more emphasis on water issues.

"I would elevate water issues to Cabinet level," he said. "Water is becoming a huge problem, not just for the West, but between the rural and urban areas. We need more sensible policies to deal with water mobility, water transfers, water technology, water conservation. The struggles between rural and urban areas nationally over water are going to become more and more acute."

Before he was elected governor of New Mexico, Richardson served in the Clinton administration as energy secretary, and he promises to become "America's energy president" if elected.

In a speech last week in Washington, Richardson laid out his plan to cut America's addiction to foreign oil, and to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions as much as 80 percent by 2040.

His proposal includes getting people to drive electric and plug-in cars, pushing fuel economy standards to 50 miles per gallon by 2020 and mandating that utilities provide a certain amount of renewable energy in the electricity sold to every consumer.

On immigration reform, Richardson proposes doubling the number of Border Patrol agents but opposes building a fence along the border with Mexico. He supports creating a guest-worker program, increasing legal immigration quotas and offering a pathway to citizenship for immigrants already living in the United States.

Richardson's policies are the kinds that generally play well in California, but the Democratic field is so crowded this year that it has been hard for him to generate a lot of momentum, said Scott Frisch, an associate professor of political science at California State University Channel Islands.

"You've got two kind of political rock stars running on the Democratic side -- you've got (Barack) Obama and you've got Hillary Clinton," Frisch said. "Money is going in their direction, and that is where the interest is and that's where the media is. With them in the race, it's really hard for anybody else to get any traction."

Richardson did generate some buzz when he poked fun at his underdog status in a couple of humorous television ads released earlier this month.

The ads featured the candidate in a mock job interview. In one, a skeptical interviewer asks Richardson why he thinks he's qualified to be president. In the second, the same interviewer tells Richardson he may be overqualified for the job.

"It's probably one of the best political ads I've seen in a long time," Frisch said, adding that it afforded Richardson the chance to tick off his lengthy resume, which includes stints as a congressman, energy secretary, ambassador to the United Nations and diplomatic troubleshooter.

But, Frisch said, "people don't really vote on just resume alone."

Even if he isn't able to break out of the pack, Richardson is still someone to watch, Frisch said, citing speculation that the party's nominee might pick him as a vice-presidential running mate.

"He's someone who's young enough and ambitious enough that he is a logical choice," Frisch said.