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Bill Richardson's Blog Outreach

When New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson decided to seek the Democratic presidential nomination, he was hoping that netroots support would help compensate for his fundraising disadvantage in a broad field with high-profile rivals.

Not only did that support never materialize, but in recent weeks, Richardson has become a laughingstock among some top liberal bloggers. Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos dubbed him "the buffoon of this campaign" and said he should be running for the Senate in New Mexiso rather than president.

With that background in mind, the news that the Richardson campaign convinced leading bloggers Chris Bowers and Matt Stoller of Open Left to work with the campaign in producing a video is a bit of a coup. The subject of the video is Richardson's stance on the Iraq war: Withdraw all U.S. troops, leaving no residual forces.

Here's the ad:

And here's what Bowers had to say about the assignment:

While this ad is not an official endorsement of Bill Richardson's candidacy, it is an endorsement of his no residual forces plan for Iraq. It is an endorsement of his leadership on the issue. It is an endorsement of the need for a public debate on how many troops Democrats plan to leave in Iraq, what those troops will do, and how long they will stay in Iraq. Every Democrat should be aware of all candidate plans for residual forces in Iraq before they decide who to support in the primaries. ...

I want to again thank Bill Richardson for continuing to show leadership on this issue, as he has consistently done in the past on foreign policy. From freeing American hostages, to brokering a cease fire in Darfur, to negotiating the return of weapons inspectors to North Korea, and now to engaging the debate on no residual forces, Bill Richardson is a leader on American foreign policy.

I'd say that's a pretty flattering non-endorsement endorsement -- one that the Richardson camp no doubt is relishing. Some political observers have long believed Richardson is angling as much for a vice-presidential selection as a presidential nomination, and if that's true, his support from Bowers and Stoller may help the cause.

UPDATE: The Caucus, a blog of The New York Times, has coverage of the new Richardson video and a 30-second advertisement created from it, noting that Christina Siun O’Connell of Firedoglake also participated in it.

"The ad demonstrates how important the netroots community is to the political dialogue," said Tom Reynolds, a spokesman for the Richardson campaign. "Obviously our campaign recognizes their power in communicating a message."

Mr. Reynolds said that the bloggers did not receive direct compensation for their appearances, but that the campaign did pay for transportation to and overnight lodging in Washington, where the ad was shot, for Mr. Bowers and Ms. O’Connell.

Posted by Danny | 06:53 AM

Comments

"When Richardson got into the presidential campaign, the rap on the New Mexico governor was that he was not really running for the top job. With his Hispanic heritage and lengthy resume as a former congressman, U.N. ambassador, and Energy Secretary, pundits suggested that Richardson was simply angling to be somebody else's running mate.

But beginning with a hard-hitting speech to the Take Back America conference on June 19, Richardson has sought to distinguish himself from his rivals by directly challenging their Iraq positions."

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Decision2008/story?id=3645551&page=1

Stephen Cassidy | 09.24.07 11:48 PM

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