In his New York Times column the other day (gated), David Brooks wonders aloud, and compellingly, if perhaps New Mexico governor Bill Richardson might somehow rise above the glamorously noisy H. Clinton/B. Obama fray and become the Democratic candidate for President. Here’s what Brooks likes about Richardson:
He’s down to earth, accessible, funny, and smart.
He is “the most experienced person running for president. He served in Congress for 14 years. He was the energy secretary (energy’s kind of vital).”
He is a “successful two-term governor who was re-elected with 69 percent of the vote in New Mexico, a red state. Moreover, he’s a governor with foreign policy experience. He was U.N. ambassador. He worked in the State Department. He’s made a second career of negotiating on special assignments with dictators like Saddam, Castro and Kim Jong Il. He negotiated a truce in Sudan.”
He is the only Democratic candidate who is “completely invulnerable on the tax cut issue.”
And most of all, Brooks writes, “he’s not a senator. Since 1961, 40 senators have run for president and their record is 0-40. A senator may win this year, but you’d be foolish to assume it.”
So far, Brooks’s enthusiasm hasn’t caught on, at least among the betting public as represented at InTrade, which accepts wagers on political campaigns and other sports. Richardson is still extremely cheap:
5 Comments
Is he still cheap now, after this posting?
— 110philWell, there’s your problem. He’s over qualified. With Bush having confirmed the Peter Principle, are you saying that competence is now back in vogue?
I don’t think so. Look at all the recent last presidents since Gerald Ford. Every one was a crap shoot. Not really trained for the job.
They were a peanut farmer, a simple-minded 2nd rate actor, small state governor from hicksville, and this last bozo who failed at everything he ever tried other than raising money on the back of his parents name.
Ok, there was the first Bush who could be said actually trained most of his life for the job. Otherwise, competence is not high on Americans list of presidential qualifications.
— egretmanI wouldn’t say that New Mexico is a red state. It’s a wobbler, and Democrats have had lots of success there in the past several cycles.
With that said, Richardson is the hands-down best-qualified Democrat in the race and ought to be doing better than he is. We will see what the real political marketplace thinks of him at the end of March, when the FEC publishes quarterly fundraising results for the various exploratory committees.
— Transplanted LawyerThat’s a neat website. Anyway, I was thinking the same thing as 110phil. If I’m interpreting everything correctly, there’s only been one sale for 10 shares and the price has dropped since this post was made:
— stu_spivackStephen, as a responsible journalist aren’t you supposed to disclose whether you have a financial interest in this “stock pick” ? How many contracts of 2008DEM.NOM.RICHRDSN, 2008.DEM.VP.RICHARDSON or correlated (positive or negative) commodities do you hold?
;-)
— rafe