Foxfyre wrote:Hmmm. Hillary must have finally told Bill Richardson that he wasn't on the short list for her VEEP or Secretary of State. . . or . . . he is convinced she can't get the nomination. He has held off making his endorsement for a very long time because he wants one of those appointments so very badly. Richardson wants to be President and I think he wants a high level position to get the necessary exposure and name recognition, etc. to be viable the next time around. So he's hung his hat on Obama.
He's convinced she can't get the nomination and he was deeply offended by Bill Clinton asking him to pass the guacamole during the Superbowl.
Hopefully we'll never know what the deal was for him to announce his endorsement at this particular moment when the Obama campaign (and Roxxy) is desperate for a change of subject for "God Damn America," and "Typical White Person."
Richardson held out too long. To the extent that his endorsement increases support for Obama among hispanic voters the time to bargain was before the Texas primary. Where, now, will his endorsement bring in latino votes for Obama? Pennsylvania? Indiana? West Virginia? Kentucky? Guam?
Oh wait, there's North Carolina and Puerto Rico!
Having recently lived in North Carolina I can attest, from an "on the ground" perspective (which conforms with more objective statistics) that The Old North State is indeed a preferred destination (behind California and Texas) for Mexican immigrants. The problem for a Richardson supported Obama in NC is that most of the visitors from Mexico are illegal and thus cannot (at least for now) vote.
As for Puerto Rico, this may come as a surprise to some but Spanish speaking peoples are not a monolithic group. Sure, they can, generally, be relied upon to have some degree of preference for a Spanish speaking candidate, but really no more so then folks living south of the Mason-Dixon line can be relied upon to vote for someone who regularly uses "Y'all."
The fact of the matter is that Obama is not Spanish speaking (He had a controversial Spanish teacher in HS and thus was never in class when she made her outrageous comments. Tough to pick up a language when you're out of class 50% of the time), and Richardson is of Mexican, not Puerto Rican heritage. I married into a Puerto Rican family and I can assure you that Puerto Ricans consider themselves a people quite distinct from Mexicans, Columbians, Cubans (especially Cubans) and any other Spanish speaking group.
Puerto Rican Democrats may, actually, overwhelmingly vote for Obama, but if so, it will have nothing to do with a Richardson endorsement.
So what did Bearded Bill have to offer Obama? Not much more than a possible media respite from the Wright fiasco. What's the quid pro quo?
I guess it depends on the desperation level of the Obama campaign, but it's hard to imagine the market for Richardson's endorsement will bear more than an ambassadorship to Spain, or maybe France.
