Washington Gov. Gets Fundraising Help from NM's Richardson
By Curt Woodward/
Associated Press
SEATTLE, Washington — Former presidential candidate Bill Richardson roused a Democratic crowd with calls to overhaul U.S. foreign policy and close Guantanamo Bay, enthusiasm Gov. Chris Gregoire hopes will bring big checks for her re-election campaign.
Richardson, the New Mexico governor and globe-trotting negotiator, headlined a fundraising luncheon that drew an estimated 1,300 Democratic donors Monday. As Gregoire noted, the crowd was about 10 times the size of her razor-thin winning margin in 2004, which came after three vote counts and a six-month court challenge.
"This time, we're going to do it by 8:10 on election night, by a landslide,'' Gregoire told the cheering crowd.
The event was billed as the fundraising launch for Gregoire's 2008 campaign, although the governor already has raised about $4.7 million. Her opponent, Republican former state Sen. Dino Rossi, has raised about $3.8 million for the rematch. The two sides are expected to wage a record-setting $20 million campaign.
Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador, energy secretary and congressman, was fresh from a trip to South America on behalf of three Americans being held hostage by Colombian rebels. In years past, he has negotiated the release of Americans held in North Korea, Iraq and Sudan.
He gave high points to Gregoire's skills as a negotiator, saying the two Democrats first met when Richardson was President Clinton's energy chief and Gregoire was Washington's attorney general, agitating for more federal attention to the polluted Hanford nuclear reservation in Eastern Washington.
"After I got out of her headlock,'' Richardson said, "I did detect when I first met her that this was a national leader.''
Gregoire campaign spokeswoman Debra Carnes said the fundraiser was expected to bring in about $300,000 before expenses.
In her speech, Gregoire touted her first term, highlighting increased state spending on education, health care and the environment, along with historically low unemployment and positive ratings from the national financial media. She also pointed to $850 million socked away in state reserves and a constitutionally protected Rainy Day fund.
Richardson lavished praise on Gregoire and urged donors to dig into their checkbooks but got the loudest ovation by ending with a presidential-campaign-style speech that called for the U.S. to shut down its military detention center in Cuba, curtail government surveillance and rely more heavily on negotiation in international relations.
"One of the changes we need to make is for America to be known as a nation that is for human rights, and alliances and diplomacy,'' Richardson said.
Virtually all of the shots at Rossi were left to comedian Peggy Platt.
Platt professed mocking support for Rossi's message that Washington needs change after more than 20 years of Democratic governors, saying the tagline was stolen by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who is supported by both Gregoire and Richardson.
Of Rossi's stance on abortion — he's personally opposed but has said he wouldn't challenge the status quo — Platt said Rossi was for choice: "If you are a female you have two choices: abstinence, or a home for unwed mothers.''
The Rossi campaign did not immediately return a message seeking comment Monday afternoon.
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