Gov.'s New Campaign Trail Leads Straight to N. Korea
By Michael Coleman
Of the Journal
Gov. Bill Richardson came to Washington early this month not as a presidential candidate, but as a governor.
It took a little getting used to.
Three weeks after he dropped out of the race, Richardson's gubernatorial staff invited me to interview him in Washington after his meetings at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill.
That, in and of itself, was a signal that the governor had come back to earth after falling short in his shot at the loftiest perch in politics.
Richardson wanted to let New Mexicans know he was getting back to work after a year of out-of-state campaigning, and even dealing with state media again.
The governor has never personally refused my interview requests, and he's generous with his time when I see him in Washington. But during Richardson's campaign, Press Secretary Tom Reynolds often blew off requests for interviews and information from me and other New Mexico reporters.
I suppose the strategy was to save the candidate's time for national media which, in truth, usually wasn't that interested until Richardson made some verbal gaffe.
Last fall, Reynolds told a group of reporters who gathered at Georgetown University to hear a Richardson speech on Iran that the candidate wouldn't take questions afterward because he was running as a "top-tier" candidate. Cue the snickering.
The problem with that strategy, of course, is that Richardson never was a top-tier candidate. A more savvy and responsive media team might have helped him change that reality.
Richardson told me he'd come to Washington to press the congressional delegation for help with the Rail Runner train, among other things. He also wanted to lobby the Pentagon to consider Albuquerque for the Air Force's new Cyber Command Center.
"I'm going to spend the last three years of my governorship on my legacy," Richardson said. "It's going to New Mexico— universal health care, continued economic development, better schools."
Then he said something that stoked my suspicion that he's preparing an informal run for vice president or secretary of state. He said he's already planning more trips to North Korea and other global hotspots.
From the day he announced his presidential campaign, many pundits proclaimed Richardson, a former United Nations ambassador, to be a better fit for vice president or secretary of state.
He's fascinated by North Korea, and last spring he secured the remains of American soldiers the rogue state had been withholding. One of his favorite lines on the presidential stump was that "bad guys like me."
Richardson said he wants to keep working on converting the bad guys through diplomacy, resuming with the North Koreans.
"It's in the planning stages, but I have to get through the Legislature first," Richardson told me. "I envision going back. I'm going to do a number of missions. You'll hear about them— foreign policy missions."
Richardson really, really wants to be America's secretary of state almost as much, and possibly even more, than vice president. Some of his closest advisers, and even Richardson himself, have hinted at this with me in recent years.
What better way to promote himself for the job than making high-profile missions abroad where he can command an international stage? Richardson told me he's "not pining for anything" in a Democratic administration. But he also refused to rule it out.
"I never say never," he said.
That's surely a big reason why he decided not to endorse either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama prior to New Mexico's Feb. 5 caucus. The Democratic race is still far from the finish line, and Richardson isn't about to bet on a losing horse. He's still got a shot at landing a high-profile spot with either Clinton or Obama. Why risk alienating either?
Richardson proclaims to love being governor, and I believe him. What's not to love, with the exception of a sometimes renegade Legislature and a pesky state media that tracks his travel and puts his missteps under the microscope. It's a great job that comes with a big house on a hill, a chef, personal security, chauffeured SUVs and general celebrity.
Richardson is the state's head honcho, and he admittedly enjoys the power and perks that come along with that job.
But his ambition, quite obviously, is still bigger than New Mexico.
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