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Bill Richardson Announces His Presidential Campaign

by Thomas Colbert in politics

Another candidate has thrown his hat into the ring in this year's presidential campaign. Richardson, who is the governor of New Mexico, thinks he can make a difference during a year when the country is at a crossroads.

“The United States faces huge challenges both here and abroad, and I’m running for president because this nation needs a leader with a proven track record and an ability to bring people together,’’ Richardson, a Democrat, said in California today.

Richardson, despite his "Wasp-sounding" name, is indeed, the campaign's first Hispanic candidate, and he made sure to translate many of his statements into Spanish.

“It means so much to me to announce my candidacy here in California, the state where I was born,’’ Richardson said, revealing later that he had spent all of about eight hours there as a toddler because his father, an American citizen, had brought his mother to California for the birth to ensure that the baby would be born as a citizen. But now, in a megastate with a large Latino population promising an early primary election, he said with a laugh, he will be 'trying to improve my roots.''

Of course immigration will be a big issue to Richardson, who had the following to say on the subject:

"We are a nation of immigrants,'' Richardson said. "As a governor of a border state, I deal with this issue every day.'' Calling the current immigration reform going through the Senate now a step both in the right direction and in the wrong direction, he said that any plan which divides families is unacceptable. "First, we have to recognize that no fence ever built has stopped history, and a border fence won't either,'' he said. "Instead, use that money to secure the border with more Border Patrol officers. "Second, we need a path to citizenship in the U.S. for those already living here illegally,'' Richardson said. "If we provide a reasonable guest worker program... there is every reason to expect Mexico to do its part with economic reforms.

Richardson joins an increasingly crowded Democratic field.

Resource: Chicago Tribune
Published: Monday 21st of May 2007 02:51:13 PM

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