Bill Richardson has announced that he is withdrawing his nomination to be President-Elect Obama's Commerce Secretary, due to an investigation of a political donor who has done business with the state of New Mexico, leaving the Obama cabinet-in-waiting now short by one member.
"Let me say unequivocally that I and my Administration have acted properly in all matters and that this investigation will bear out that fact," Richardson told Andrea Mitchell. "But I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process."
The last month has been been a rough time for the Democrats, with them becoming mired in ethics scandals before they even get to officially take control of the government.
Late Update: Barack Obama and Bill Richardson have released statements, both available after the jump.
Obama Thanking Illinois Donors; No Biden Events
Barack and Michelle Obama are holding a thank-you event for members of his Illinois finance committee, with pooled press. Joe Biden is holding private meetings in Delaware, and has no public events scheduled.
Report: Political Advisers Telling Matthews To Quit MSNBC The Politicoreports that Chris Matthews has been meeting with political operatives to discuss a timetable for his possible Senate candidacy -- and they're advising him to quit MSNBC and get organized ahead of his contract's expiration in June. "I said, 'if you want to be a U.S. senator, step up and get into the race,'" said one participant.
WaPo: Richardson Pick At Commerce A Big Change The Washington Postpoints out that the appointment of Bill Richardson as Secretary of Commerce is a real departure for that office, putting a politician in a post that has usually been held by private-sector executives. Commerce has been considered one of the lesser roles -- but that could be changing, between Richardson's own background as a governor and diplomat, and the need for more national leadership on the economy.
Plouffe Writing Book About Campaign
Barack Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe is writing a book about his experience in this past election. Plouffe is indicating that this won't be a tell-all, but more an examination of the process itself, comparing how the rival campaigns were run: "Hopefully, there will be some lessons on how to put together a three-quarters of a billion dollar operation."
Carter Writes New Book -- With Pleasant Title
Jimmy Carter has a new book coming out about the Middle East, entitled We Can Bring Peace To The Holy Land. Hopefully it will go over better than his last book, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid.
Potential Reid Challenger Indicted
Harry Reid just got a piece of good news back home in Nevada: One his top potential challengers for 2010, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, has been indicted on corruption charges. Between scandal-plagued Gov. Jim Gibbons and now Krolicki, plus Barack Obama's double-digit win here last month, the Republican brand just keeps going downhill in Nevada.
Inauguration Organizers Working To Keep Kids Out
The committee organizing Barack Obama's inauguration is providing some strong disincentives against bringing children, banning strollers and expressly warning that attendees will have to stand in one place for hours. Said a spokeswoman for the committee: "They are shorter than everyone else; they can be stepped on. Parents should think long and hard about bringing a small kid to an event with 1 million people."
Oprah Taping Show In DC For Inauguration Week
Oprah Winfrey, whose public support of Barack Obama quite arguably made the difference in the very close Democratic nomination contest, will be hosting her show from Washington during Inauguration Week. Could a White House Christmas special be next?
A few miscellaneous pieces of transition news floating around today:
* The Obama camp confirms to The Huffington Post that he remains committed to the Employee Free Choice Act, a measure that would make it easier for unions to organize and will be at the center of a huge upcoming fight.
* Community organizers of the world, unite! The group -- much maligned by the GOP ticket during the campaign -- will get their face time with Obama tomorrow.
* A new war is brewing over a potential pick for the post of Obama drug czar.
* Bill Clinton says he's not expecting to play any role with the Obama administration, which will do absolutely nothing to put an end to the mindless speculation about this non-possibility.
* And though Obama made it official today that Bill Richardson is his choice for commerce secretary, this blog will not link to any reports about it, because they all contain jokes about Richardson's beard, a topic which has been banned from this site forever.
A nice catch by Taegan Goddard: In a fun bit of campaign trivia, commerce secretary nominee Bill Richardson reveals in a new interview that Barack Obama surreptitiously bailed him out during a Dem primary debate, even though they were rivals at the time:
"As I'm chatting with Obama, the moderator says, 'Governor Richardson, what do you think of that?' And I look at him like a deer in the headlights. I was about to say that I hadn't heard, when Obama puts his hand over his mouth and says, 'Katrina.' So I gave my four-point plan on Katrina. When I was done and the debate moved on, I looked over and said, 'Thanks, you're okay.' He said, 'Nothing to it, brother.'"
Okay, that was a pretty cool thing of the President-elect to do. One hopes, though, that Richardson doesn't need to be bailed out in similar fashion during cabinet meetings...
Late Update: As commenters are pointing out, this isn't the first time Richardson has told the story.
Those Cabinet appointments are finally starting to come -- and they're coming fast, too, just at a time when a tumbling economy and uncertain marketplace need to know who they're dealing with.
Barack Obama has reportedly made his picks for two top economic jobs in the Cabinet: Timothy Geithner, the current president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, will be Secretary of the Treasury; and Bill Richardson will become Secretary of Commerce.
Geithner served in the Treasury Department during the Clinton years, working under Bill's economic brain trust of Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, and has received favorable reviews for his performance at the New York Fed. In short, this is someone who will start off on a much better footing with Wall St. than Henry Paulson currently has right now -- though he'll face big challenge in maintaining any good will he has while he deals with the disastrous problems we're all facing.
Richardson was often spoken about for foreign-policy roles, but the imminent selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State seems to have put him back in a domestic portfolio. His selection will probably also satisfy any agitation from Hispanic interest groups that they be represented in the Cabinet.
Late Update: As for Hillary, a spokesperson for the Senator says reports she's accepted the State gig are "premature."
Obama Premieres The Presidential YouTube Address
Barack Obama has posted the first of his weekly YouTube addresses to the nation, a modern-day replacement of the old-fashioned weekly radio addresses. In this one, Obama urges immediate Congressional action on the economy:
"Next week, Congress will meet to address the spreading impact of the economic crisis. I urge them to pass at least a down-payment on a rescue plan that will create jobs, relieve the squeeze on families, and help get the economy growing again," Obama says. "In particular, we cannot afford to delay providing help for the more than one million Americans who will have exhausted their unemployment insurance by the end of this year. If Congress does not pass an immediate plan that gives the economy the boost it needs, I will make it my first order of business as President."
Biden Meeting With Son On His Way To Iraq
Joe Biden and his wife Jill are meeting privately today with their son Beau Biden, a captain in the Delaware National Guard who is set to be deployed to Iraq.
Transition Team Officially Announces Key White House Appointments
The Obama transition office officially announced this morning some key appointments, two of which had been widely reported: Valerie Jarrett will be a White House senior adviser, assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations, and public liaison; Ron Klain will be chief of staff to the vice president; and former Congressional aide Phil Schiliro will be assistant to the president for legislative affairs.
Obama's Pick For Sec. of State: ???
The story about Barack Obama's search for a Secretary of State just keeps getting more intricate, with the president-elect having met yesterday with Bill Richardson after media speculation surrounded possible discussion with Hillary Clinton about the post.
New York Pols Scrambling Over Possible Senate Vacancy The New York Timesreports that New York Gov. David Paterson and other state Democrats are giving serious consideration to who would replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate should she be appointed to the Obama Administration. Possibilities include state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Reps. Nydia Velasquez, Brian Higgins, Nita Lowey, Gregory Meeks and Steve Israel, and Robert Kennedy Jr. and Caroline Kennedy.
NYT: Despite Restrictions, Potential Lobbyist Influence Still Seen In Transition The New York Timesreports that Washington lobbyist connections can still be detected in the Obama transition effort, despite sweeping restrictions meant to keep them out: "Among the full roster of about 150 staff members being assigned to government agencies between now and Inauguration Day are dozens of former lobbyists and some who were registered as recently as this year. Many more are executives and partners at firms that pay lobbyists, and former government officials who work as consultants or advisers to those seeking influence."
GOP Sen. DeMint Blames McCain For Not Being Conservative Enough
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) told a group of GOP officials yesterday that John McCain lost because he watered down the GOP's conservative message with his support of campaign finance reform, programs to fight global warming, and immigration reform. "Americans do prefer a traditional conservative government," said DeMint. "They just did not believe Republicans were going to give it to them."
Hillary will campaign for Obama this Sunday at Northern New Mexico College, her office confirms.
She's in the state to attend a couple of fundraisers with Bill Richardson to pay off her campaign debt.
Her campaigning for Obama comes at a time when tensions between the two camps, to the extent that there were any, have largely tailed off. Hillary and Obama agreed yesterday that her name will be entered into nomination at the Dem convention, after which she'll urge her backers to support Obama.
Separately, there's been a bit of confusion over who's speaking when on Tuesday night at the convention. While Virginia Governor Mark Warner unquestionably has the marquee slot as keynote speaker, the Dem convention team also confirms that Hillary will speak last, meaning she'll deliver the climax speech, which is also a good slot.
A spokesperson for Bill Richardson is adamantly denying what top Hillary confidantes told Mark Halperin and me this morning.
The spokesperson says that the New Mexico governor never...
(a) Promised not to endorse Obama; or
(b) Questioned Obama's chances in the general election.
"The Governor never promised that he wouldn’t endorse Obama," Richardson spokesperson Pahl Shipley emails me. “The Governor has never questioned Senator Obama’s electability. He believes Barack Obama is the right person to lead this country and he will be America’s next President."
This morning, Mark Halperin quoted a Clinton "associate" saying that Bill Richardson privately had confided to the Clintons that he thought Obama couldn't win a general election.
Now I've got more. A top Hillary adviser confirms this, telling me:
"Bill Richardson repeatedly promised he would not endorse Obama -- and the reason he gave was that Obama wasn't ready -- he couldn't be elected."
After the news broke yesterday that Bill Clinton grew angry in a meeting with California super-delegates, and asserted that Richardson had promised five times not to endorse Obama, a Richardson spokesperson denied that Richardson ever promised Hillary any endorsement.
But that isn't what is being reported. Rather, what's being reported is that Richardson promised he wouldn't endorse Obama. Shipley didn't return my call asking for comment on that.
Now a top Hillary adviser has asserted to me that this happened, and claims that Richardson said the reason for this was that he didn't think Obama could win.
After reports that Hillary Clinton told Richardson that Barack Obama can't win, one Clinton source now says just the opposite happened — that it was Richardson who said Obama can't win, and now he's lying about it after he endorsed Obama, anyway.
One unnamed Clinton associate told Mark Halperin: "Bill Richardson is clearly embarrassed that he broke his promise to them. He should come out and tell the truth and admit that he told both Clintons that Obama wasn’t ready and can’t win."
During his appearance this morning on Fox News Sunday, Bill Richardson attempted to dial back the negativity in the Democratic race, rejecting the accusation by retired Air Force Gen. Tony McPeak that Bill Clinton was engaging in McCarthyism against Barack Obama.
"I don't believe President Clinton was implying that," the former Clinton cabinet member Richardson said of the allegation that Bill Clinton was questioning Obama's patriotism.
On the other hand, Richardson strongly responded to James Carville's comparison of Richardson endorsing Obama to Judas Iscariot selling out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. "I'm not going to get in the gutter like that," Richardson said. "And you know, that's typical of many of the people around Senator Clinton. They think they have a sense of entitlement to the presidency."
First, here's an explanation from Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer of Mark Penn's suggestion yesterday that Bill Richardson's endorsement of Obama was "not significant":
Everyone in the Clinton campaign has the utmost respect for Gov. Richardson and many of us know him well. Mark was referring to the fact that Gov. Richardson didn’t endorse prior to his state’s primary and certainly didn’t mean to imply anything else. The Clinton campaign continues to seek the support of all Latino voters and leaders in the remaining primaries and caucuses.
Meanwhile, Richardson offered some new comments clarifying whether he thinks Hillary should drop out of the race, as he seemed to suggest yesterday. Check out what Richardson said about this in a new interview:
“I’m not going to advise any other candidate when to get in and out of the race,” Mr. Richardson said after appearing in Portland with Mr. Obama. “Senator Clinton has a right to stay in the race, but eventually we don’t want to go into the Democratic convention bloodied. This was another reason for my getting in and endorsing, the need to perhaps send a message that we need unity.”
Richardson's stance seems to be that Hillary has a right to stay in for now, but just not too much longer, and certainly not all the way until the convention, lest it imperil the Democratic Party's chances in the fall.
It is time, however, for Democrats to stop fighting amongst ourselves and to prepare for the tough fight we will face against John McCain in the Fall.
That's basically an implicit call for Hillary to concede, and it will be interesting to see if more Obama supporters start saying it now that the Florida and Michigan revotes are effectively dead.
Yesterday Bill Richardson gave an interview that has gotten a bunch of attention already, because in it he said that Dems should coalesce behind the candidate with the "clear lead" after tomorrow's voting.
"Whoever has the most delegates after Tuesday, a clear lead, should be, in my judgment, the nominee," Richardson said.
But Richardson also offered up some other comments in that interview that have passed unnoticed: Specifically, he criticized Hillary's "red phone" ad, which Hillary pollster Mark Penn credits with shifting the race her way...
He was outspoken in his criticism of Clinton's new "ringing phone" ad, which suggests that Obama is not ready to become commander in chief.
"I happen to disagree with that ad that says that Senator Obama is not ready," he said. "He is ready. He has great judgment, an internationalist background."
That Richardson would directly fault Hillary's core closing argument, and endorse Obama's central claim to having sound judgment, seems telling -- another sign that Richardson may be laying the groundwork to endorse Obama, should tomorrow's results give him an opening to do so.
Pressure is starting to mount on Hillary Clinton — that if she doesn't win overwhelming victories on Tuesday, she should think about dropping out of the race. So said both Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), a Barack Obama supporter, and the neutral Bill Richardson.
"I hope ultimately she makes an honest appraisal of her chances," Durbin said. "I hope after Tuesday her decision is made on the basis of the unity of the party."
Meanwhile, Bill Richardson said on Face The Nation today that it's important for the party to unify behind a nominee soon, rather than continue to have a negative campaign that will further divide the party for the general election against John McCain.
"I just think the D-Day is Tuesday," said Richardson, who has declined to make an endorsement since his exit from the race. "We have to have a positive campaign after Tuesday. Whoever has the most delegates after Tuesday — a clear lead — should be in my judgment the nominee."
Bill Richardson's own presidential campaign might have failed to catch on, but he's become a key coveted endorsement for the remaining candidates. The Washington Post reports that in the last couple days alone he's been called by Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, his former boss Bill Clinton, Hillary supporter Ed Rendell, and Obama supporter — and his old political mentor — Ted Kennedy.
Richardson is undecided on whether to endorse, but if he does he will do so by the end of the week. "If I do endorse, it's going to be a gut feeling. It's not going to be about statistics, about past ties," Richardson said. "I've been on the campaign trail with both of them. I feel that I know them."
The Associated Press is reporting that Bill Richardson is dropping out of the race for president, and will make his announcement tomorrow. In yesterday's New Hampshire primary, Richardson only won 5% of the vote.
It remains to be seen what impact, if any, this will have on the Latino vote in next Saturday's Nevada caucuses, and also whether Richardson will endorse any of the three remaining major candidates.
The final Rasmussen tracking poll for the New Hampshire primary is out, and like all others it shows Barack Obama on the cusp of defeating Hillary Clinton. Here are the numbers, compared to yesterday's:
The new Fox News poll in New Hampshire puts Barack Obama ahead of Hillary Clinton, but by a smaller margin than most other polls out there. Here are the numbers, compared to their last New Hampshire poll from mid-December:
The new Marist poll, conducted over the weekend, shows Barack Obama taking a good-sized lead in New Hampshire, after previously trailing by an even greater margin in December:
Marist actually has Hillary ahead 36%-30% among core Democrats, but Obama mops the floors with her among independents: Obama 43%, Edwards 22%, Clinton 16%.
This morning's Zogby tracking poll in New Hampshire — the first one with a pure post-Iowa sample — shows Barack Obama jumping into a huge lead. Here are the numbers, compared to yesterday's three-day tracker:
As in the closing days in Iowa, Clinton is slowly losing her support among women (she leads 37% to 33%), Democrats (Obama leads 36% to 32%), and Liberals (Obama leads 34% to 32%). Obama leads among Independents (47% to 22%), men (45% to 21% for Edwards and 18% for Clinton), and 18-29 year olds (47% to 22%). Obama also leads Clinton among all voters under age 65, Moderates (by a 45% to 25% margin), and among voters in union households (40% to 22%).
Earlier today there were reports that the Obama and Richardson camps had reached a deal where Richardson would throw his second-choice supporters to the Illinois Senator.
The Obama camp denied this today. But a little while ago, Obama adviser Samantha Power went on Fox and appeared to admit that such a deal had been reached, saying: "The fact that we got Richardson to basically say that his people should turn towards Obama ... "
But Richardson denied today that any such deal had been cut.
Hillary will campaign for Obama this Sunday at Northern New Mexico College, her office confirms.
