Few people were familiar with Bill Richardson before he threw his hat in the 2008 presidential race. But as Ryan Lizza points out in the current issue, the governor of New Mexico has made his resumé a focal point of his campaign. To get the point across, he styled this campaign ad after a job interview:
And, as he told us during the Democratic debate in New Hampshire, he knows how to fix the economy because he is a governor:
In person, Richardson stresses his skills as a negotiator, as he did at this appearance before the Asia Society in New York, where he shared his views on North Korea. But, as Lizza notes, Richardson hasn't always displayed a clear understanding of what the negotiations seek to accomplish, telling Iowans that "we are moving North Korea toward eliminating nuclear weapons" when, in reality, the negotiations are about shutting down a nuclear facility:
In fact, Richardson has a long track record of inconsistent statements, which create the impression that, on issue after issue, he doesn't know the basics. On "Meet the Press" recently, Tim Russert grilled Richardson about some of his flip-flops on Iraq, immigration, gun policy--and his favorite baseball team:
By NO BYLINE