Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico successfully negotiated the release of journalist Paul Salopek, who was reporting for National Geographic as a freelance writer. Salopek, a resident of Columbus, NM, is a writer for the Chicago Tribune. Salopek, his driver, and his translator, were detained August 6th in Sudan, and was being held on charges of being a spy and entering Sudan without a visa. Richardson was approached by Marie Lipinski, Editor for the Tribune, requesting that he intervene. Richardson met with Sudanese Ambassador to the United States Khadir Haroun Ahmed. He was then invited to Sudan to meet with President Omar al-Bashir.
Once again, Governor Richardson has shown that he has the foriegn policy skills so sorely lacking in the current administration. Richardson, who has negotiated the release of hostages and prisoners on several occasions around the world, has been nominated three or four times for the Nobel Prize for Peace. He is well regarded by Democrats and Republicans alike.
I believe that this man is the future of our country. He exemplifies the best of America, the progressive idealism, the pragmatic diplomacy, the marriage of cultures and peoples, and the magnanamous nature of our nation (at least what it used to be!)
Call him a dark horse if you will, but I think Richardson has the stuff to pull it off.