Who is Hispanic presidential candidate Richardson?

Bill Richardson, with a long career in politics and diplomacy, including a post as U.N. ambassador, has called being New Mexico’s governor “the best job I ever had.” The nation’s only Hispanic governor, Richardson says, “I humbly believe I’m the best-equipped candidate.”Richardson continues to make headway in the race for president. The newest polls by American Research Group show him moving into third place over John Edwards in Arizona with 9 percent of the vote. Richardson has also surged to 13 percent in Iowa, placing him within two points of Sen. Barack Obama. In addition, the Iowa poll shows Governor Richardson in first place among Independent voters with 25-percent support.”I’m running for president even though some might say I’m an underdog; some might say I don’t have the money some other candidates do; some might say I’m not a rock star like the other candidates,” Richardson told the crowd of about 170 people inside a hot airport hangar on a Friday afternoon. “I will win this nomination by going grassroots.”He seems to have the perfect resume to pull it off. Richardson has extensive domestic experience as an eight-term congressman and U.S. Energy Secretary, along with experience negotiating with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, North Korean generals and Cuba’s Fidel Castro as a former United Nations ambassador and international peace/policy enforcer. Finally, he’s a Hispanic governor of a western state, giving him an inside track on two crucial targets for the Democratic Party.Richardson, 59, said he’s perfectly happy with his underdog status for now because it enables him to do what he likes best: “shake hands and engage in one-on-one, retail politics.” Clinton and Obama “come in and do big rallies in gyms and then leave,” Richardson said in an interview. “They are so hamstrung by their entourages and their celebrity. They can have all that. I just want the voters.” Still, the rock-star status in the Democratic race belongs to Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois and, to a lesser extent, former Senator John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee. They cast a long shadow over the rest of the pack, Richardson included.Richardson aspires to become the first Hispanic elected president of the United States, but rarely emphasized his ethnicity during the “exploratory” phase of his bid for the 2008 Democratic nomination. As a result, polls showed most voters – including Hispanics – where unaware that the “Anglo”-surnamed governor of New Mexico is Hispanic.In the end, most Americans value Richardson’s resume and his desire to use the presidency to bring our troops home.