AAAHH!! I told you they were mafia! I TOLD YOU!
I kid, I kid… I kid, right? :eek:
How does an Hispanic guy get a name like RICHARDSON. Is he Hispanic on his mother’s side? Is he accepted as a “real” Hispanic? How good is his Spanish?
How did I wind up with a name like ‘James’. 
Because when we emigrated here our family name was changed (they couldn’t spell it or pronounce it right). Thats just a guess btw…I never actually asked him how he got the family name of Richardson. Perhaps his family married into a ‘white’ family (as mine has done now…like my wife).
Is he accepted by ‘real’ hispanics? Well, I’m a ‘real’ hispanic…so is he. 
However, yes, I think he’s pretty well accepted here…he’s pretty popular in the state among the various ‘racial’ groups.
How good is his spanish? Well, its better than Bush’s is, but I doubt he will play that up too much in a national election. It was ok for Bush to play up his ability to speak spanish (even if he DOES have a pretty horrible accent), but I think Richardson will let his hispanic heritage stand for itself and appeal to middle America instead. He’s pretty good at that.
Take whatever I say about him with a grain of salt though…I’m definitely biased about him so I see him through my own tinted glasses. YMMV.
-XT
Joe Manchin, governor-elect of West Virginia, is a pretty happenin’ middle of the road Democrat. Was Secretary of State for eons and as far as I know has managed not be caught with a hooker or anything. Socially conservative, economically liberal.
Pro-life, though, so he’d never get nominated.
I think that after this years debacle the progressives will fall behind the DLC’s lead in the primaries. Even this year, this was true to a certain extent as the progressives abandoned Dean in favor of Kerry. So long as they choose someone who wasn’t just a Repub in Dem clothing, I think they could get him through the primaries.
Richardson sounds like a great choice. I think the southwest will be the best place for the Dems to pick up electoral votes in 2008, and if Richardson manages to finish up his governorship in good shape, then I think he would be our best bet.
THe trick this time, though, will be to not get undone by Defense issues. A small state governor like Clinton was not so vulnerable on that issue 12 years ago, and even Bush would’ve suffered from that problem had he not run before 9/11/01. But that should be fairly easily handled by pairing the guy with a Senator who has experience and some “street cred” on defense issues.
I forgot to say why else I thought Richardson was a good bet. He has experience up the wazoo. He was Sec of Energy, a congressmen and a UN ambasador. He’s been very active in international issues. He isn’t just a small state governor like Dean or Clinton.
No.
He’s a passable bureaucrat, but couldn’t beat Mondale in a charisma race if Mondale were heavily sedated. No freakin’ way he’s presidential material, not in a celebrity culture.
Richardson is intriguing. Where can I learn more about his politics?
Daniel
Mark Warner of Virginia is very popular.
Start with his web site…I provided a link above. He has several initiatives going for the school system (one is to provide laptops to all 7th graders and the wireless infrastructure in the schools to provide access)…if they work out I think he’ll be a shoe in for a front runner in 2008.
-XT
There’s a big drawback in Richardson that nobody seems to mention. His tenure as Secretary of Energy was a disaster. Has everyone forgotten the leaked nuclear weapons data that found its way to China? Representative Chris Cox and his commission that investigated China’s espionage activities? I respect Richardson a lot – he is a very capable man – but his record as Secretary of Energy was that of a complete fiasco.
It should also be noted that the Washington buzz around the time Richardson fell off the list of VP hopefuls is that he has a ahem “Clinton problem”. In fact, I’ve spoken to women he’s groped. But, yeah, the Energy Department thing is serious baggage, especially in an election where, as I suspect, nuclear proliferation will be even more an issue than it is now.
But why NOT Mark Warner? I’m only a few miles from VA right now, and the guy seems pretty popular and has a way of getting things accomplished. While he has extensive political experience, not much of it is as a candidate, so he doesn’t give off that “career politician” vibe. He also seems to be a bit of a technocrat, which I personally like.
Could the VA Dopers offer some input on this?
Also, Richardson couldn’t deliver his own state for Kerry this year, despite the fact that he’s a Hispanic in a state with a growing Hispanic population and it was a state that, albeit narrowly, went for Gore four years ago. That doesn’t do well for his political stock.
Virginia is a good cross-over state, and a Democrat who could govern there is probably good at working both sides of the aisle. Lots of “Blue” people in NoVa, and lots of “Reds” in the rest of the state. It’s also not some “podunk” state out in the middle of nowhere. If Warner is clean, has a winning personality, and national aspirations, he might be the right guy!
D’oh! Missed that–thanks!
I hate hate hate that a “Clinton problem” could stop a politician, but there you go; celebrity culture=no politicians whose personal lives are less than perfect. That might be enough to torpedo him.
I’ll hunt around on his website for his positions, but on first blush I’m not seeing them.
Daniel
Didn’t stop Clinton. Didn’t stop Arnold. Jerrry Springer got caught with a prostitute and still managed to become mayor. A politician with a less then perfect life story will undoubtably have a spotlight put on it, but I don’t think its a deal breaker in most cases.
The Chinese Nuke scandel thing might be more damaging, and brings to light a more general problem. With me, having more experience in gov’t is a plus. But there seems to be a meme out there that it gives the person more material to be attacked on, and that the best candidates, like Bush in 2000, don’t actually have that much stuff people can hold against them. If true, this may be a strike against Richardson instead of for him.
I don’t know much about him, but I’ve heard he’s going to go for a senate seat in 2006. If he succeds he won’t be available to run, and if he fails he’ll have a loser’s halo to shake.
Yeah, Virginia’s one-term gubernatorial limit doesn’t give politicians there many options for growth…
One term! Did Virginians get really burned by a particularly bad governor at some point? That seems ridiculous. Let’s make EVERYONE a lame duck!
Bob Graham did run for president this year. It’s not surprising nobody remembers that. He got little support.