Bill Richardson Drops Out

The Associated Press reports Bill Richardson will drop out of the presidential race Thursday.

MERRIMACK, N.H. - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson ended his campaign for the presidency Wednesday after twin fourth-place finishes that showed his impressive credentials could not compete with his rivals' star power.

Richardson planned to announce the decision Thursday, according to two people close to the governor with knowledge of the decision. They spoke on a condition of anonymity in advance of the governor's announcement.

Richardson's campaign would not comment on the governor's decision, reached after a meeting with his top advisers Wednesday in New Mexico.

The New York Times reports the Richardson campaign told Iowa suppporters to make Barack Obama their second choice. Richardson served as Bill Clinton's Ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of Energy. He was the presidential candidate viewed most likely to shift allegiance to Hillary after dropping out. That doesn't appear to be the case.

Richardson served most of his adult life dealing with foreign policy. A young Richardson served as a staffer in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and State Department. I would take Richardson over Richard Holbrooke as Sec. of State.

My problem with Holbrooke is he is not much more than a Beltway pundit these days. Richardson negotiated the release of hostage Paul Salopek. In 2002, Holbrooke supported regime change in Iraq.

New York, N.Y.: Why do you think the administration has reportedly dropped the references to alleged links between al Qaeda and Iraq?

Richard C. Holbrooke: I suspect that the reason is quite simple: they do not have "smoking gun" evidence linking Iraq and al-Qaeda, and they recognize that the case against Saddam must stand on its own merits -- that is, that he is the most dangerous leader in the world today. (Incidentally, that is my own view as well.)

A Hillary administration would guarantee Holbrooke as Sec. of State. Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney was a package deal with President Bush. Hopefully, an Obama administration will have Richardson as National Security Advisor or Sec. of State.

Pam Spaulding details how Richardson has been supportive of LGBT rights.

He signed legislation expanding New Mexico civil rights laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity. (At the time, only three other states had included transgender protections.)

He signed a hate crimes law that included actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.

He signed an executive order in 2003 extending health insurance and other benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of N.M. state employees.

He's on record backing full-fledged civil unions and (unlike John Kerry) opposes state-level constitutional amendments banning gays from marrying.

While in Congress, Richardson backed military service for out gay men and lesbians. That means, unlike Al Gore, John Kerry, John Edwards, Hillary and the rest, he was anti-Don't Ask, Don't Tell when it was very uncool to be.

Richardson is a great policy wonk and progressive on many issues. He just doesn't have the star power to compete with the tier A candidates.