For The Oskaloosa Herald, Duane Nollen covered the event:
If Democrat Bill Richardson is elected president, he will have a busy first six days in office.
Richardson told a crowd of about 80 people in Smokey Row Friday afternoon his plans for the top six priorities of his first days in office. Richardson stopped in Oskaloosa as part of a campaign swing through the state before the Democratic debate in Des Moines Sunday.
"I represent change and I have the most experience," Richardson said. He said the country needs a candidate with a proven record on foreign policy and who has managerial experience as a governor of a state...
Audience members had a favorable reaction to Richardson’s speech. "I agree with a lot of the things Bill says," said Bruce Bobrtje, of Pella. He said this is the second time that he has seen Richardson speak. The big thing for Bobrtje is that Richardson is the only Democrat to advocate a complete troop withdrawal from Iraq.
The Century of the Common Iowan blog is holding its first online poll since March, writes noneed4thneed:
The poll question is who do you support for the Democratic Nominee for President in 2008? The poll is located at the top of the left hand column and will run for 4 weeks. Here is a look at the results back in March...
- John Edwards 40%
- Barack Obama 31%
- Bill Richardson 10%
- Hillary Clinton 8%
- Joe Biden 5%
- Dennis Kucinich 3%
- Chris Dodd 3%
- Mike Gravel 1%
Make sure you go show your support for Governor Richardson in this online poll!
The governor is continuing to gain momentum in New Hampshire as well. At New Hampshire Presidential Watch, Cosmo noted Governor Richardson's gaining strength in the Granite State with the announcement of several key endorsements from Democratic Activists in the Seacoast Region:
Today, Bill Richardson's New Hampshire campaign announced the support of various Seacoast activists. The list includes Portsmouth Town Democratic Committee Chairman Peter Somssich, Portsmouth Democratic activist Thomas Slater, former Dover Mayor Wil Boc and State Representative Susan Kepner of Hampton.
Both Wil Boc and Peter Somssich have a son serving in Iraq. Somssich said that "In Iraq, our troops have become targets. Governor Richardson is the one Presidential candidate who understands that the removal of all US troops from Iraq with no residual forces left behind is the critical first step toward providing a real chance for peace and stability in the region. Our troops have done everything we've asked of them and it's time to bring them home."
Adam D. Krauss has more on former Dover Mayor Wil Boc and Portsmouth Town Democratic Committee Chair Peter Somssich at Fosters.com:
Bill Richardson's presidential campaign has the support of two politically active fathers who have sons serving in Iraq.
Wil Boc, the former Dover mayor, and Peter Somssich, the Portsmouth Democratic Committee chairman, cited the candidate's Iraq position — an immediate troop withdrawal with no residual forces — as key to their support, the campaign said. But Boc, who recently hosted the Democratic New Mexico governor at his home, said there's more to his endorsement.
"I think he's electable. I think he's a fresh face in politics. He doesn't give a measured answer measuring every word to make sure it's politically correct," he said, adding "I like his honesty and integrity." Boc, who was in the Army, has a son, Sam, 25, serving with a medical unit in support of Marines in Iraq. Boc said he thinks the war will drive the election. "I've been saying to everybody that to me it's about the war, stupid," he said... The former mayor said he agrees with Richardson that America's presence in Iraq inflames tensions...
In a campaign news release, Somssich said Richardson "is the one presidential candidate who understands that the removal of all US troops from Iraq with no residual forces left behind is the critical first step toward providing a real chance for peace and stability in the region."
For more on these endorsements, click here, and for more on Governor Richardson's Iraq policy platform, click here.
The governor is spending this evening in Wyoming, and then tomorrow and Thursday morning he'll be in Nevada. He's speaking at the Nevada AFL-CIO Convention tomorrow morning, and holding a Meet and Greet at Fernley High School in Fernley, Nevada tomorrow evening. Tomorrow afternoon Governor Richardson is speaking at the Opportunity '08/UNR Candidates Forum at University of Nevada, Reno. KRNV News Channel 4 (an NBC affiliate) reporter Greg Knight covered the details of the upcoming forum:
Two democratic presidential candidates will be in Reno Wednesday to take part in the second half of UNR's presidential forums. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware will take part in the event sponsored by UNR and the Brookings Institute...
Tickets are available at the Associated Students of the University of Nevada (ASUN) office. There is a two-ticket per person limit. Nevada Democratic Party chair Jill Derby will moderate the event.
Knight also wrote that you can see exclusive interviews with Governor Richardson Wednesday morning on News 4 Today. ABC News is partnering with Opportunity '08 to host this forum. To find out where you can watch a live webcast of the Candidates Forum, check the Opportunity '08 website on Wednesday.
As previously mentioned, Governor Richardson has drawn praise from all over the Internet for his performance in Sunday morning's debate. Days later, people are still talking. At About.com's Liberal Politics site, Deborah White analyzed Sunday's debate and praised Governor Richardson's performance:
Gov. Bill Richardson, who is polling about 11% of Iowa Democrats' support, delivered a Master Lesson in political debating, as he effectively and efficiently delivered his message in the mere 8 minutes he was allotted.
Richardson quipped the quotable line of the ABC-Iowa debate when he cleverly responded to a no-win question about whether Obama is too inexperienced for the White House, or Hillary is too experienced to "bring the country together think that Obama does represent change. Senator Clinton has experience. Change and experience: with me, you get both!"
... You know, it's interesting. You talk about the dispute between the two senators over dictators that.. should we, should we not meet?
"I've met them already, most of them. All my life, I've been a diplomat, trying to bring people together."
Bill Richardson connected well with the Iowa audience, both on the Iraq War and on No Child Left Behind, in large part because he communicated his ideas simply, understandably, and with passion, and because he strongly differentiated his views with the other candidates. To the cheering crowd, he said:
"My plan is that, to end this war, we have to get all the troops out, all of them. Our kids are dying. Our troops have become targets."
On No Child Left Behind, he again orated to loud cheers:
"I also have a one-point plan, like I do on Iraq, on No Child Left Behind: Scrap it! It's a mess; it's a disaster."
Barack Obama, who stumbled over wordiness and awkward, nondescript phrasing, could learn a valuable lesson from Bill Richardson about succinctly conveying his message.
At Huffington Post, debate coach Paul Johnson agreed that Governor Richardson did very well at the debate, especially when he led the discussion of the War in Iraq:
Once the debate finally did get to Iraq we got what the Iowa questioners, and most of the country, wanted. Surprisingly the Democrats finally differentiated themselves and their strategies, engaging pertinent questions with in depth answers. Richardson showed dramatic differences from the others when it came to the issue of pulling out all of the troops...
Richardson was sound on all policy issues... and was especially persuasive when it came to laying out policy support for his policy of Iraq withdrawal.
MyDD founder and front-page writer Jerome Armstrong compared the Democratic candidates' plans for Iraq and discussed the political implications of the different plans:
There are a couple of reasons why I post this... First, I think it's problematic if Biden's position of staying in Iraq for a longer period becomes the de facto position that Obama supports explicitly, and neither Clinton nor Edwards confronts in disagreement. If the Democrats go into '08 fuzzy on getting out of Iraq, we will lose again. The lesson of '06 would be ignored in favor of repeating the mistake of '04. And secondly, getting out of Iraq asap is the lynchpin for Democratic wins beyond '08...
I have also thought about what would occur if a Democratic candidate won the Presidency in 2008, but then did not follow through on pulling out of Iraq completely as soon as feasible. The base would be revolting, the Republicans would be screaming about the number of soldiers dead on a Democrats watch, their approval rating would plummet, and it would be a nightmare scenario for us trying to hold onto control of Congress in the 2010 mid-term election.
I was struck by this strongly after viewing the back and forth between Richardson and Biden, and the follow-up from the frontrunners (and their acquiescence with Biden). I actually agree somewhat with Biden's position about helping to divide up Iraq, similar to how, with the UN, we did with Yugoslavia. But I don't think the time for beginning that process is the middle of 2009; by then, we should be out of Iraq. Read The War as We Saw It for a fundamental rejection of the Biden Doctrine of Occupation. Bill Richardson seems to be the only Democratic candidate that understands the importance of that happening as soon as possible, and drawing that out in as black and white terms as possible.
Commenting on Jerome's diary, anevarez agreed that Governor Richardson had the best plan for the future of Iraq:
Richardson is right on the money on this issue. So long as our military is present there will be no progress... The only solution is for the UN to fund a Muslim coalition to stabilize Iraq while diplomatic solutions are worked. Whether that include a unified Iraq or a balkanized Iraq won't be apparent until there is some stability, but so long as we continue to have a military presence there we will never even get to that phase...
It takes strength and courage to challenge the military industrial complex, which is what our country desperately needs. It is obvious that only one candidate is capable of doing that.
Finally today, blogger GDCRITTER praised Governor Richardson as the best choice for our next president:
His three most recent positions — U.N. Ambassador, Secretary of Energy, and Governor — make him the ONLY Democrat in the race with real executive and international experience
...Richardson is a man one can rely on. You may not always like the answers you get from him, but the answers he gives won't change from one audience to another — as we have seen in the last two presidential candidate debates. He has honor, and standards. And he's one heck of a negotiator. Last fall, for example, he went to Sudan on behalf of the U.S. and secured the release of Chicago Tribune reporter Paul Salopek, whose family lives in New Mexico near Las Cruces. He also still gets calls to speak with foreign government representatives...
Obviously, you'll have to make your own decision as to whether this politician is worthy of your support. But I will say he is definitely worth looking at. I will also say that he is, in my view, the only current presidential candidate of my party that might be worth voting for.
That's all for today. I hope you'll come by again tomorrow. Until then...
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