Bill Richardson

OMG, Guille, that beard makes you look HAWT!

In other news, Mark Penn says the endorsement is insignificant. Unbelievable.

Bill Richardson was the candidate I first considered supporting in this year's presidential primary. His experience, intelligence and many of his policies seemed ideal. His energy plan and his exit strategy from Iraq were the best of any of the candidates.

But he was not good at campaigning on a national stage and I quickly recognized he would not be our next President. But I have hoped that he may be the VP pick. For awhile I imagined an ideal and unbeatable ticket of Edwards/Richardson. But it looks like Hillary or Obama will be our nominee.

This week Bill Richardson has decided to finally endorse in this race. And he has, like so many of us, chosen to endorse Barack Obama. Here is Richardson's email endorsing Obama:

During the last year, I have shared with you my vision and hopes for this nation as we look to repair the damage of the last seven years. And you have shared your support, your ideas and your encouragement to my campaign. We have been through a lot together and that is why I wanted to tell you that, after careful and thoughtful deliberation, I have made a decision to endorse Barack Obama for President.

We are blessed to have two great American leaders and great Democrats running for President. My affection and admiration for Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton will never waver. It is time, however, for Democrats to stop fighting amongst ourselves and to prepare for the tough fight we will face against John McCain in the fall. The 1990's were a decade of peace and prosperity because of the competent and enlightened leadership of the Clinton administration, but it is now time for a new generation of leadership to lead America forward. Barack Obama will be a historic and a great President, who can bring us the change we so desperately need by bringing us together as a nation here at home and with our allies abroad.

Por el amor al país,

Por el amor a nuestra gente,

Por el amor a la patria,

Por el amor al presente,

Por el amor al futuro,

Por el amor a la esperanza,

Ésta es una carta urgente

que te pide,

te llama,

te reclama

Por el amor de tu madre,

Dále tu endoso y respaldo

A BARACK OBAMA.

Siempre,
Liza Sabater

Just got pinged through the grapevine : Barack Obama is on his way to Nuevo México. Could this mean an endorsement by Bill Richardson is next?

Stay tuned!

Word on the street is that Richardson is shelving his campaign, although no official comments have come out of the campaign yet.

As the primaries are beginning, I am naturally reflecting on the main candidates. I already discussed the chances (in my opinion) each candidate has in the upcoming primaries. Now I want to discuss the actual candidates and my opinions of them. This represents my thoughts on the candidates as individuals and on the issues.

I am facing the Democratic primaries MORE undecided than when I began. From the start I liked our candidates. They are a good bunch! Astonishingly intelligent and capable, even those I don't fully agree with on the issues. At first I figured I'd vote for any of the main candidates in the primary except Hillary, though I know I would be proud to work for her if she wins the nomination. Now I am even LESS decided because I even have entertained the possibility of voting for Hillary in the primary! I honestly don't yet know who I will vote for.

Probably the candidate who most matches my personal values is Kucinich. But I don't think I'd vote for him for two reasons: first, he has no real shot; and second because even if I like his values, I am unconvinced he'd make an effective leader. Carter was possibly our most moral and intelligent President ever, but he fell short as a leader at a time when even an effective leader would have been tested. We need a better leader than I think Kucinich would be in these days of a massive Bush mess.

[UPDATE: Rumor Confirmed...]

Rumor has it that Wes Clark is endorsing Hillary Clinton. To me this was easily predictable. For a long time I saw Wes positioning himself to run. He was acting like a candidate early on. I predicted if he did run it would hurt Hillary because they have overlapping pools of supporters and run in roughly the same political circles.

Then, suddenly Wes Clark stopped acting like a candidate. He quieted down and started to sound more like someone positioning himself for alliances, rather than being the focus of an alliance himself. It struck me that his sudden change in behavior probably meant someone made him an offer...and the someone who seemed most likely to make him an offer was Hillary Clinton.

Now, if the rumor is true, Wes has endorsed Hillary.

What offer would it take to get him to back out and back Hillary? Possibly Sec. of State. But I really think the smart thing would be for Hillary to pick Clark for her running mate. I think a Clinton/Clark ticket would be a strong one and would boost Hillary's chances a great deal.

So prediction #1: if Hillary gets the nomination, Wes is her VP choice.

I feel pretty safe in making that prediction. Interestingly, when I discussed Clark and Clinton as appealing to the same basic pool of supporters, I was attacked by Clark supporters who wanted him to be their progressive savior and couldn't abide seeing him as a centrist. Wonder how they feel now if he does endorse Hillary and does become her VP choice.

Photo courtesy of Univisión

I am so glad I didn't go to Miami for this :

Reporters who didn't speak Spanish were already anxious about the translation devices that didn't quite fit in our ears. (Porque soy de California, yo hablo un poquito Espanol.)

But 90 seconds before the forum began tonight, the Media Room had no sound - not in Spanish, English or French. Nada.

Spanish- and English-speaking reporters in the room erupted in a panic, sending University of Miami staff scrambling to try and fix the feed. What most reporters heard for the first 16 minutes of the debate was static - both from the closed television feed and from the translation device.

Even Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) seemed to have trouble, yanking the earpiece from his ear mid-way through his answer to a question on Iraq.

Notwithstanding the awe inspiring set and the hard hitting tonality of the questioning, I don't think that Univision did anything groundbreaking. On the contrary, by not allowing Dodd and Richardson to respond in Spanish, they pandered to the Democrats who still treat latinos as a political ghetto from where to get voting servants to work for their "mainstream" agendas.

Richardson complained, and with good reason, about not being able to speak in Spanish. Hillary, Obama, Edwards, they need to get over it. Spanish is the official second language of the United States, thanks in part to that little colony nobody ever mentions in these forums anyway, Puerto Rico. If they couldn't deal with it, then their muscling in the “English-only” requirement for the forum should be used against them at the voting booth.

Today is the very first time candidates from the major parties are in Indian Country to present themselves to Native Americans. Sadly, only three Democratic Candiadtes are attending. Bravo to Governor Bill Richardson, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, and Senator Mike Gravel for recognizing the worth of Native Amercans.

From the Indigenous Democratic Network (INDN):

Watch the historic Prez on the Rez forum presidential forum today via internet at www.prezontherez.org at 3:30pm Pacific time (5:30pm Central).

We are making history with the Prez on the Rez forum with these dedicated candidates -- Governor Bill Richardson, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, and Senator Mike Gravel. This is the first time presidential candidates will assemble on Indian land to lay out their visions for the future of Indian Country.

Mark Trahant, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and the editor of the editorial page at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, will moderate the discussion between the candidates and tribal leaders.

Join the proceedings online by watching the forum at www.prezontherez.org. The next President of the United States will realize tribes are a critical voting block and the opportunities and challenges in Indian Country deserve visionary leadership and dialogue with American Indian tribal citizens.

'Twas a place for political anthropologists.

Last night was great if only because I got to see another glimpse of the innards of the Capitol Hill media and propaganda machine. Inside the innards there is an ecosystem composed of bacteria of all kind, some toxic yet others more akin to a benign flora.

I have identified some of the toxic ones. From the attached ensemble cast, it's up to you to decide who is who.

Here's a breakdown of the photos :

1. Bloggers row #1
That's Andy Carvin and Bob Cox in the foreground. Susan Madrak is blocking Meagan Ortiz with her big head (heh). Michael Sheffield of News Busters infamy is next to her (nice guy, btw) and Earl Dunovant is to his left. But of course.

2. Bloggers row #2
The laptop next to Andy is mine. La Shawn Barber was exactly behind me. That's Faye Anderson next to her.

3. The non-bloggers
And everybody else.

4. La Shawn and Tavis
She asked Tavis why didn't he invite conservative journos ... I guess she was trying to get into the next line up.