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 News from Around the Americas | August 2007 
The Sincere Candidate
 The New Mexican
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| | Democratic presidential hopeful New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson speaks about his economic plan during a gathering Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP/Charlie Neibergall) |
Who is the most “sincere” candidate running for president of the United States?
The Sincere Democrat, according to a nationwide poll by Forbes magazine, is none other than the governor of New Mexico. Twenty-five percent of those polled picked sincerity as a characteristic that describes Richardson.
According to the poll, 32 percent of men described Richardson as sincere, compared with 18 percent of women.
The only candidate to score higher than Richardson in the sincerity category was probable Republican contender Fred Thompson, who scored 26 percent.
And despite a number of verbal gaffes and bad reviews of his debate performances, Richardson is the second-highest Democrat (behind Sen. Barack Obama) in terms of being articulate, according to the Forbes tracking poll. Thirty-five percent used “articulate” to describe Richardson. Besides Obama (who scored 44 percent), Republicans Thompson and Mitt Romney scored higher than Richardson in this area.
Richardson landed on the bottom in another category of the Forbes poll — the one for “mean” candidates. Only 1 percent described him that way. He’s just not in the same league as Republican Newt Gingrich (who has not declared he’s running) and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who topped the “meanie” list.
Debate flop:
A blog called The Political Insider predicts Richardson could soon surpass Edwards as the No. 3 Democratic candidate if current trends continue. A post there this week offers praise, criticism and some hard-nosed advice.
“Richardson benefits from his earthiness and likeability, as well as from some famously clever campaign ads,” the blog says. “He works great on the retail level. His problems lie elsewhere.
“The diplomat is, oddly, a complete flop on the debate stage. While rivals like Sens. Joseph Biden and Christopher Dodd continue to score in the many Democratic debates, it is a good day for Richardson if he simply emerges without a serious gaffe. He also put in a May Meet The Press appearance that was nothing short of pathetic.
“John Edwards was similarly bad in his pre-2004 race Meet debut, and he ended up second in Iowa and second on the Democratic ticket. It won't be fatal for Richardson, either. But if Richardson really wants a chance to be on the ticket, in either slot, he needs to get his debate act up to speed — fast.” |
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