All right. It's 4:45pm so there's not going to be a ball dropping, or confetti throwing or mass kissing. But there is wine because we are at the Sommerset winery in Indianola Iowa and it is New Year's Eve. It's also cold. Before the candidate arrives, Tim Russert of Meet the Press comes into the room dressed in Iowa style--green hunter coat--and the room goes into that odd, weird, thing where somebody from inside the television has stepped out into the room you are in. There is that little buzz where everyone nods to other people to look, while simultaneously pretending not to notice the "famous" person is there.
There are over 100 people in the room, awaiting Governor Richardson, some of whom are holding wine glasses. The audience is varied in age and parka color. Several people mention that they were here at this same winery for a Howard Dean rally several years ago but that there was no wine offered. There's an implication that this didn't bode well for the Dean campaign. There is another ghost of Howard Dean sighting later on in the evening when, during his talk, Richardson says that Howard Dean told him that Iowa voters don't make up their minds until the days just preceding the caucus. "And he should know," Richardson says. Richardson says he's not greedy--that he just wants to come in third--and make it to the west, where he assures the crowd that he can win the western states.
Before his speech, Richardson walks into the room to applause. When he takes the stage, an Indianola woman, Jo Anne Anderson, who is introducing the introducer, John Early takes this opportunity to mention Bill Richardson is the only candidate to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. John Early himself says right off he doesn't care much for politicians or politics, acknowledging that Richardson is a good kind of politician. "Kind of like there's good and bad cholesterol," he says. But Early is here because his life narrative bumped into Richardson as Early, a lead pilot for the Red Cross, and his crew were held hostage in a village in Sudan. Patients got killed; Early couldn't get out. Finally he contacted his congressman, Richardson, who showed up, "looking like he was running for mayor for Sudan" and refused to leave until Early and crew were released.
The ability to negotiate is one that Richardson brings up during the question and answer period, which he opens up the floor to immediately after he thanks Iowa for not holding the caucus on Christmas day, and notes that he's grateful to be in Warren county because he can pronounce it and then does a little riff on the various counties he's mispronounced.
"President Clinton used to say 'The bad guys like Richardson, send him.' The danger in opening the floor for a full hour like this is everyone gets to ask questions and one guy asks about horses as a form of alternative transportation. Because many people here have horses, Richardson has to decipher whether the question is a joke (it wasn't). Other questions asked allow him to expand on his view towards education: "Here's what we should do with No Child Left Behind. Kill It." He goes on to say there needs to be education accountability but it has to be determined by the teachers. He talks about how, if asked to say who influenced you in life, most people after citing their parents would say a teacher. "And yet we don't honor them." He proposes that a minimum salary should be $40,000 for a teacher, and says that in general we should stop talking about the minimum wage and start talking about a living wage.
Although he doesn't think horses are a good solution to alternative transportation, he speaks about the need for a better light rail infrastructure. He is an Amtrak supporter, although he thinks Amtrak needs to market itself better. He speaks in fairly strong terms against Pervez Musharraf, who he believes should be removed from the Presidency. "You will know my cabinet before I'm elected." he says. "I already offered Secretary of State to Joe Biden, but he turned me down. He said, no you be my Secretary of State." He acknowledges the elephant in the room, which is, in this case, Tim Russert. "I've been on Tim's show. He universally treats people terribly."
He is at ease and funny.
After about an hour, he is shuttled out. His volunteers stay picking up signs, preparing to go back to the office to make calls before they go to a New Years Eve celebration. James Koch, a volunteer from New Mexico who used to be chairman of the game and fish in New Mexico, and is currently on the board of regents at the University of New Mexico has been spending some time here calling members of the NRA, an organization that looks upon Richardson favorably. Koch says he's been a strong supporter of the Governor for years, and he sees what he's done for education. Leanne Leith and Sandy Buffet, Richardson volunteers from New Mexico who work for a state conservation organization, say what is notable about Richardson is that he gets endorsements both from the NRA and environmental agencies.
The volunteers are warm, friendly, and devoted, which says something about a campaign, and the Iowans are out on New Years Eve to listen to yet another candidate, which says something about Iowans and their devotion to the political process.