Bill Had His Al, and Hillary Might Have Her Bill

[Herman Munster]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/27/AR2007062702576.html

Running for the vice presidency is a delicate operation, but Bill Richardson seems to be getting the hang of it.

The New Mexico governor is running for president, of course, but should that fail he has already mastered the first responsibility of the running mate: Don't overshadow the top of the ticket. This trait was in evidence yesterday when Richardson gave a lunchtime foreign policy speech in Washington at the exact moment Hillary Clinton was giving one of her own.

Leading a detailed, hour-long discussion about Iran in which words such as "fissionable" and "Abrahamic dialogue" were invoked, Richardson demonstrated why he is running a distant fifth for the Democratic presidential nomination, and why, in a CNN poll released this week, 54 percent of respondents had either never heard of him or had no opinion of him.

Clinton's speech was in a gilded ballroom of the Willard hotel, where waiters served roasted chicken and orzo salad at tables decorated with blue hydrangeas coordinated with the candidate's blue pantsuit. The Post's Anne Kornblut counted more than a dozen television cameras vying for the best angle.

[Lasher]

1. She could do better than this DINO

He favors even more tax cuts for rich people, more military spending, school vouchers, mandatory 3 strikes laws, more 'free' trade, and federal funding for religious charities. And he's neutral on Social Security privatization. DINO.

[PBass]

2. It's way too early to call it for Hillary. But lets pretend she wins the primary.

Picking Clark, Obama or Edwards for VP would help fire voters up.

Picking Richardson, Vilsack or Dodd would put voters to sleep.

If anything, Richardson is to Hillary, what Lieberman was to Gore (boring). In my opinion, anyway.

Pick someone who will EXCITE voters in 8 years, when they can run at the top of the ticket. Nobody would be excited to see Richardson or Vilsack running for president, after two Hillary terms. OBAMA would be a different story.

[Lasher]

3. Yup, that makes sense.

It's too early for me to decide but right now I'm rooting for Kucinich.

[Nedsdag]

4. That's what Billary wants.

They want someone who doesn't upset the apple cart, speaks in complete sentences, and most importantly, doesn't overshadow Hillary and Bill (the real vice president)

[Mark Twain Girl]

5. "Richardson demonstrated why he is running a distant fifth" -- this is nuts

If someone is not a Richardson supporter based on policy, fine and dandy, but critiquing him for using terms like "Abrahamic dialogue" -- ie. terms that aren't dumbed-down, focus-grouped buzzwords -- is bullshit. If the Washington Post is blaming a candidate's poor standing on his level of discussion, that's only adding to the dumbing-down problem.

Richardson's speech -- which occupied nine single-spaced pages and had the warning "3,325 words" at the top of the text distributed by the campaign-- lulled the crowd of 200 into utter silence. Eyelids drooped. Listeners shifted in their seats. Richardson plodded on. Reading from the teleprompter, he heard himself saying, "What I have outlined tonight," then revised: "Tonight? This afternoon."

Clinton took no questions after her speech -- too risky for a front-runner. Richardson took plenty, including one from a ponytailed blogger in the second row. "You've laid out this great policy, a lot of intricate detail, to a bunch of policy wonks," he said. "How do you make this policy that you laid out today more sexy?"

Yeah, this kind of story from the MSM is really helping raise the level of debate.

[JNelson6563]

6. Clinton/Richardson?

The very notion is a major buzzkill IMO.

Julie