Richardson Makes His Move

Gov. Bill Richards is beginning to distance himself from the other 2nd tier candidates. His fund raising success, and shocking victory in Presidential Madness clearly show his candidacy is credible.

Although less than the money makers at the top, Richardson's 6 million dollar effort (with 5 million in the coffers) is a boost to his candidacy:

The $6 million dollars raised by Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico would, in 2004, be seen as a triumph. We're impressed by the campaign's $5 million cash on hand, which indicates a low burn rate. Still, Richardson has a fully functioning policy staff -- his gubernatorial executive office -- and he spends half his time or more tending to the business of his state. So he hasn't had to spend as much money as the rest of the lot.

Says Pahl Shipley, Richardson's communications director: "We're very pleased with where we are. We're on goal, on budget, and we're in it for the duration."

The supportive comments mention many of the reason I like Bill, especially his broad based experience:

Hopefully, the rest of the country will start to discover what we New Mexicans know - Bill is the most qualified candidate in the race. Fill in this experience chart for the other candidates:
FOREIGN POLICY - UN Ambassador
DIPLOMACY - The diplomat of choice when there is a problem,i.e., North Korea, Sudan, Iraq and others.
ENERGY - Secy. of Energy and Governor of an energy-producing state who believes in conservation.
IMMIGRATION - Governor of a border state dealing with the issue daily.
ADMINISTRATOR - Running a State Government, not just a Senate office.

And another testament:

Bill Richardson may not have movie star good looks, but America isn't a movie. It's not only real, but it has real problems, problems that Bill Richardson is far and away, the best qualified to solve, not only by virtue of his leadership, qualifications and diversity of experience, but because of his honesty, candor and truthfulness he will bring to the White House. Bill will unite our Country to solve problems at home, and re-establish our moral leadership and strength around the world.

But that wasn't the only good news for the Governor this week. ProgressNowAction held there own little Final Four called Presidential Madness. The Governor was seeded 4th, top of the 2nd tier. Hilary was given the #1 slot, followed by Obama with Edwards at 3. In this non scientific poll, Richardson easily handled VP Gore in the #5 slot, and then shocked even myself by defeating the #1 seed Sen Clinton. Just when I thought that would be his peak, Bill complete the upset run by tackling Sen Obama, and it wasn't even close:

Richardson came out ahead of Illinois Senator Barack Obama by almost 20% in the final round.

This little fun and games may not be a scientific representation of the current state of the race, but it very well could be a precursor to what the future holds.

Flash