It appears I’ll have the privilege of covering five presidential candidate events in three days, with this afternoon’s stop by Democrat Barack Obama and tomorrow likely with two of the three Republicans who will be in the area. Still on my mind is my first look at Democratic Party candidate Bill Richardson. He had a pretty sizable crowd for a guy running in fourth place, and the attendees seemed – I believe this is the best description – entertained by him. Richardson, however, paled by comparison to the ease of conversation that John Edwards showed in an event also here in Sioux City just a few hours earlier. But most people won’t fare as well as Edwards in the stump speaking department as well as Edwards, I was told by someone who saw him later yesterday in Orange City.

Richardson had a few gaffes, like when he seemed to think Morningside College was a community college instead of a private four-year school. But his humor was well-received, including a few cracks at vice president Dick Cheney and a fellow governor from the state just to the west, Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Four still are in my head:

(1) In touting examples of how the New Mexico is flourishing with business opportunities, he noted that nine films are presently being shot in the state. “Of course, I have to star in all of them,” he said with a broad smile.

(2) Richardson took pleasure in noting that seven of the last eight presidents were or had been governor. He said that’s generally sound training for the presidency, except for the current officeholder, George W. Bush, whom Richardson said “needed on-the-job training.”

(3) You can debate if cracking wise on immigration policy is advisable. But in giving a lengthy recitation of his approach to immigration reform — which includes more border patrol agents and not amnesty, not citizenship, but “an earned path” to legal residency for the 12 million illegal immigrants now in the U.S. — Richardson also said he opposes building a border wall. “If you have a 10-foot wall, you know what is going to be created? Eleven-foot ladders,” he said, to a good amount of laughter.

(4) Finally, going further with immigration remarks, Richardson said it’s absurd for lawmakers to want to make the illegal immigrants felons who must be deported. In a nod to his Hispanic bloodline, Richardson referenced Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King and said, “I think he wants to deport me.” Not to worry, Richardson added, since “I was born in California.”

As for King, he recently got back from surveying Iraq for a fifth time, and the Republican congressman has some thoughts  here on what he saw and how the war is being undermined by Democrats.

Tags: bill richardson, politics, Steve King

This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 1:36 pm and is filed under Presidential race '08. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.