Richardson Tantalizes Hispanic Voters

As Governor Mulls Presidential Run, Democrats See Opportunity To Mobilize Bloc

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (By David Lightman) July 24 2006 — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson gave 1,200 Florida Democrats at a convention this weekend what seemed like a standard campaign speech, full of pleas to get out of Iraq and calls for a more compassionate government - but the reaction and the mood in the hall had a different feel than usual.

In watching Richardson, the audience was hearing a man who is positioning himself to be the first major Hispanic American presidential candidate, and the Latinos who are an important part of this state's political life were beaming.

"Since I'm Hispanic, his views on how we can help people come together really resonate," said Debra Diaz, a Miami nurse anesthesiologist. "He's a real visionary."

"There's always an element of pride when one of your own steps up," added Luis A. Navarro, executive director of the Broward County Democratic Party.

From Florida and across the country, Latinos are watching with unusual interest the career of Richardson, 58, the son of a Mexican mother and a father who was a Boston banker, as he explores a 2008 presidential run.

"Bill Richardson is the real deal," said Juan Figueroa, a veteran Connecticut activist who is president of Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut in Meriden.

Figueroa and other Richardson fans cite his diverse resume: 15 years as a congressman who in 1997 became United Nations ambassador and later energy secretary in the Clinton administration. In 2002, Richardson was elected governor of New Mexico with a strong Hispanic vote.

What's particularly tantalizing to Democrats about a Richardson candidacy is that he has the potential to mobilize the fastest growing segment of the voting population - and one in where Republicans are beginning to make serious inroads.

President Bush won 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, up from 34 percent in 2000. A Pew Research Center poll last year found that about half of Latino voters identified themselves as Democrats, while 27 percent said they were Republicans and 24 percent were independents.

It's a hard community to define, since it consists of people of many nationalities, some of whom have been in this country since it was created and others who only recently gained citizenship.

At the same time, Democrats see enormous potential both this year and in 2008. "Latinos clearly have been affected by the immigration debate, and to some extent they are holding the Republican Party responsible," said Gabriel Escobar, Pew Hispanic Center associate director.

They see many in the GOP as mean-spirited for their rigid stance that border security be the entire focus of immigration reform as well as efforts to curb help for Spanish-speaking people in the Voting Rights Act.

But the Latino community is diverse and concerned about an array of issues, Escobar added, so "whether this [feeling about immigration] translates into political action or, more specifically, support for the Democratic Party, is too early to say."

That's where Richardson can help the party. He suggests he has earned the right to run for president because of how he has managed the New Mexico economy.

He has cut taxes, overseen significant job growth and improved the state's educational benchmarks.

"We've had a great economy. Times in New Mexico are pretty good," said Lonna Atkeson, professor of political science at the University of New Mexico.

But a Richardson candidacy would not be without problems.

One is his record in Washington. He was frustrated at the United Nations, often feeling ignored as a foreign policy adviser. He went to the Department of Energy the next year, only to be in charge when the agency was plagued by a scandal involving the leak of top secret data from the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Another problem is his national political resume. He was on many lists as a 2000 vice presidential candidate, but the energy controversy seemed to disqualify him.

In 2004, he tried hard to get attention, moving the state's nominating caucus to an early date, using his political committee to mobilize the Hispanic vote and serving as chairman of the Democratic National Convention.

But Richardson could not deliver his own state - Bush carried New Mexico with 49.84 percent to Democratic nominee John Kerry's 49.05 percent.

Richardson's biggest initial difficulty as the 2008 race dawns is reminding people he's Latino. He was raised in Mexico City, but the family moved to Boston when he was a teenager.

And, Atkeson said, "He's really not well known outside New Mexico," which means he has to remind people of his heritage.

Navarro contends that Richardson's last name is a plus. "His family," Navarro said, "reflects a lot of what we see in the community," where Hispanics marry non-Hispanics.

More important, he said, "people in the activist community know Bill Richardson is Hispanic."

That's why people at the Florida weekend convention such as Melissa Fojtik, a Fort Lauderdale real estate investor, were excited about Richardson.

"Republicans have tried to paint each of these [ethnic and minority] groups as different, and we need to emphasize how we're all together."

Richardson tried mightily to do that in his 35-minute address to the convention on Saturday. It had the ring of a well-honed campaign speech, as he talked about ideas he described as the New Progressivism in domestic policy and a New Realism in foreign affairs.

He didn't excite the crowd, which had just sat through a debate between Florida gubernatorial candidates and had not yet been served their dinners, even though it was already 8:30 p.m.

Still, Richardson laid out an eight-point plan, including "setting a firm date for withdrawal from Iraq" and creating an immigration policy that secures the borders while offering a path to citizenship.

He got scattered and polite applause. But more important to the candidate, he got a sense that people were at least listening - and were intrigued.

"The one thing about Richardson is that he would be the first Hispanic on a ticket," said Sarah Brown, a Democratic activist from Pompano Beach. "That would be a major force."

"People are interested in him and will stay interested in him," added Susan MacManus, professor of political science at South Florida University, "because of his wide diversity of experience - and the ethnic group he represents."