The Negotiator

So Richardson’s in.  He’s been a good governor and I think he’d make a good president, but I still don’t see him getting the nomination.  He’s popular in New Mexico but not very well-known nationally, and his reputation suffered a lot from his disastrous stint at Energy (even though he was mainly just the fall guy for a lot of problems that had been brewing there for years).  He might appeal to Hispanic voters, but since he’s decided not to emphasize his ethnicity I’m not sure how that’ll work.  On the other hand, he does have foreign policy experience well beyond anyone else on the Democratic side, which will be important in 2008, and he sounds pretty upfront about pulling out of Iraq (although the rest of his Iraq policy doesn’t sound very realistic).  I still can’t see him getting the nomination, but he seems like a plausible VP pick if the nominee is someone lacking foreign policy credentials.