Look who's on the hot seat now! Old friend, Bill Richardson!
As the highest-ranking Hispanic in the Democratic Party, Richardson's endorsement is being aggressively sought by the Clinton and Obama campaigns. California, Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico are among the 22 states voting next week, and each have sizable Hispanic electorates. Richardson, who cruised to re-election as New Mexico governor in 2006, is a popular figure in the Hispanic community.
That's right, if Richardson endorses, he needs to do it by the end of the week. And his endorsement is likely to help either Clinton or Obama on Super Tuesday. And if Richardson picks the winner...would he win himself a cabinet seat?
Only thing, his loyalties are apparently divided. On one hand, he already served in Bill Clinton's administration and still has obvious ties and loyalty to the family. On the other hand, Ted Kennedy - who just came out for Obama - is his mentor. Plus, Obama was nice to him!
I had just been asked a question -- I don't remember which one -- and Obama was sitting right next to me. Then the moderator went across the room, I think to Chris Dodd, so I thought I was home free for a while. I wasn't going to listen to the next question. I was about to say something to Obama when the moderator turned to me and said, 'So, Gov. Richardson, what do you think of that?' But I wasn't paying any attention! I was about to say, 'Could you repeat the question? I wasn't listening.' But I wasn't about to say I wasn't listening. I looked at Obama. I was just horrified. And Obama whispered, 'Katrina. Katrina.' The question was on Katrina! So I said, 'On Katrina, my policy . . .' Obama could have just thrown me under the bus. So I said, 'Obama, that was good of you to do that.'"
Tough spot for Richardson here. I suspect he would prefer to not endorse: he's an obvious cabinet candidate for either Obama or Clinton. But because the race is still tight, he probably needs to pick between them if he has aspirations beyond being governor of New Mexico . |
