I Went

to the One Corps meeting, which was basically a brainstorming session. There were about a dozen or so people there, and then at about 2:30, people started coming into the Democratic Party headquarters in anticipation of Governor Bill Richardson's visit. I decided to hang around there as well.

He arrived at about 3:00 (Wesley Clark must have taken a different plane in or else went on to Minden). There were perhaps 40 or 50 people at the headquarters to listen to what he had to say. Richardson said this was the first campaign stop outside of New Mexico since he announced for president. He then talked about why he was running, and he touted his extensive experience. His resume runs several volumes rather than several pages. He has been a cabinet member, a U.S. representative, a U.N. ambassador, and now is governor of New Mexico. Richardson's other theme is about diversity. As governor, he said he has 60 percent women in his administration, and two African-American cabinet members (in a state where blacks make up just 1 percent of the population, as opposed to 42 percent Hispanic and 11 percent Native American).

But even with this background, Richardson admitted he was an underdog. But he noted Bill Clinton was just a blimp on the political landscape when he ran in 1992. And he didn't enter the contest until the August before the primaries started.

Richardson mostly took questions from the audience. There was a question about NCLB. Richardson said there was more bad than good about the law. It was an unfunded mandate, and the AYP stuff was nonsense, because money would be taken AWAY from "poorly-performing" schools, schools that actually need MORE money to do well. However, he did say he believed in testing, (and this rather lost me a bit of support as I feel the law is a total travesty) and we should recruit quality teachers. Richardson noted New Mexico was once 48th or 49th in teachers' salaries, but since he has been governor, the state is now 27th in salaries.

Richardson talked about the shortcomings of the Patriot Act, and how it is we are losing more of our rights. He said AIDS funding was inadequate. Our national security against terraists is a joke because we are not adequately defending our ports and airports. Las Vegas, for example, received little or no money at all for homeland security, and as a result could be an easy target (as I think I noted on this blog, more people visit Las Vegas than any other city in the entire world, including Mecca, with some 35 million a year making the pilgrimage to Sin City).

As he was talking about AIDS, my camcorder's battery died. I had a really nice tape of him, but I had done the stupid thing of trying to charge my battery before I left, but I didn't charge it all the way. Oh, well. I did jot a few more things he talked about (and what I am writing here isn't comprehensive). The immigration issues were brought up. He said in his state, children of immigrants have the right to attend college as long as they are eligible. He also mentioned what he would do about employers who hire illegals; however, I missed writing his response on paper, and I forgot it like a fool. Preschool he believes is important. He wants to make it available regardless of cost. Parental involvement is essential. Richardson talked about how important it was for minorities such as Native Americans to be able to keep their language and culture while still speaking English, and he managed to get funding back to recruit Native American teachers in the state.

As for Iraq, the governor said he is for withdrawal this year; however, to prevent an even worse mess happening in the country there needs to be a reconciliation conference as well as a regional conference involving Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and other countries in the region. However, our dictator prefers to talk only to himself; everybody else can go hang. Richardson didn't say that in so many words, but that was the gist.

Richardson wanted to make clear he was running as an American, not as a Hispanic. That's because Latinos care about the same issues as everybody else. He believes he is the best person for the job because he has the experience and drive to make this country better.

When the local papers print his appearance either in Reno or Minden or both, I will bring up the links. I took several still pictures, and I will get those up in a couple of days.