WASHINGTON, April 27 (UPI) -- Bill Richardson is running for president. Richardson, like many other candidates in the 2008 presidential race, wants to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq "overnight."
Richardson is currently the governor of New Mexico and a Democratic Party contender for the presidency. His previous jobs included a stint as President Bill Clinton's Energy secretary; ambassador to the United Nations, and the man the North Koreans got to trust enough to hand over to him the remains of American soldiers killed in the Korean War.
Richardson is somewhat at a disadvantage when compared to some of the other Democrats he needs to compete with in order to gain the party's nomination. For the moment he trails far behind New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and the former senator from North Carolina, John Edwards. Edwards ran as John Kerry's running mate in 2004.
Richardson is in fourth place.
Some political observers who tend to gravitate in the general vicinity of the White House will admit that Richardson's chances of winning the Democratic Party's nomination over the top two contenders are not very good.
Why? There are several reasons.
To begin, Richardson lacks name recognition, unlike Clinton. Thanks to eight years spent in the White House with husband Bill -- and also to her own strong personality -- Hillary is a household name.
Second, Richardson lacks some of the magnetism of his opponents. Mention Obama and once again there is instant name recognition. Being African-American, handsome and a sharp dresser who appears to have stepped out of the pages of GQ does not hurt either.
Richardson, on the other hand, who doesn't come across as the life of the party, is of Hispanic descent. Yet his name does not reflect his ancestry and it is not a given that he can count on the country's 8 million Hispanic voters.
Finally, Richardson's biggest setback will be lack of dollars, campaign money his opponents have been able to raise has been far easier.
In the first quarter of 2007, Clinton has raised $26 million and change, placing her slightly ahead of Obama who raised $25.6 million. Edwards came in third place with $14 million in campaign contributions and Richardson, in fourth place, eked out a dismal $6.2 million.
That doesn't factor in Republican money. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts raised $20.7 million; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani raised $14.7 million and Sen. John McCain of Arizona managed $12.9 million.
This is money the candidates will use to buy airtime on radio and television to bash each other and convince the voter that they are what is best for America. You don't need to be a mathematician to work out that $26 million buys you quite a bit more airtime than $6 million.
Richardson may have raised the least amount of money of all of the competitors; however, he has qualities and experience in far more fields than the other candidates, by the bucketful.
Richardson may not have the authoritative look Hillary does. Or the pizzazz of Obama. But listen to him speak, then look at his credentials: former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, former secretary of energy and U.S. representative, governor of New Mexico since 2003. Additionally, he is one of the few Americans who has had some success in negotiating with communist North Korea, be it over the return of remains of American soldiers killed in the Korean War, or in trying to convince the reclusive regime in Pyongyang to halt its nuclear program.
Richardson arrived unannounced Wednesday night at the Kahlil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Awards dinner in Washington hosted by the Arab American Institute Foundation, hoping to win some votes along the way.
Richardson came but didn't stay for dinner. His speech was short, about 15 minutes, during which time he completely changed the way many people perceive him. Naturally, like most politicians who run for office, Richardson, too, made promises he knows he would have a hard time keeping. But this is the election season, and politicians will say and do what politicians say and do to get elected.
Richardson said that if he was elected president, there are two things he would do right away. First he would close down the highly controversial U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo, Cuba. And second, he would withdraw American forces from the war in Iraq. And he would do so overnight. (Long applause from the audience.) This is what they wanted to hear -- at least the Democrats in attendance, who seemed in the majority that night.
But realistically, should Richardson win the race to the presidency, would he really be able to pull the troops out of Iraq, and overnight? Closing down Gitmo may be as simple as signing an order. But pulling U.S. troops from Iraq is a totally more complex matter altogether.
Richardson has conceded as much in other venues.
Campaign promises are one thing, but geopolitical realities offer a very different perspective of life. Richardson -- and other candidates -- may be honest in their intentions of pulling out American forces from Iraq right away, but after the first briefing from the National Security Council there is good reason to believe their outlook will change drastically.
In the meantime, candidate Richardson managed to woo a few more votes.
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