Hillary is done.

"Mr. Obama’s address on race in Philadelphia on Tuesday appeared to sway Mr. Richardson, who sent word to the senator that he was inspired and impressed by the speech, in which Mr. Obama called for an end to the “racial stalemate” that has divided Americans for decades. Aides said the endorsement was locked down over the following two days".

With BR gone, I've got to look somewhere else for hope...

In case you missed it, my boy Bill was featured in a story on NPR's Morning Edition this morning. BR is targeting rural voters in Iowa by visiting all 99 of its counties (he's been to 98 so far).

There's clip from the story in which Richardson says he'd name his cabinet before the general election, so voters would not just know who their president was, but the entire team he would be using to run the country. He went on to say he would include Independents and Republicans in his cabinet. What other candidate is going to do that?

It's been a while, but BR is up on the air once again, so I thought I would share his new commercial with everyone.

While the rest of the world was tearing into the Petraeus hearings, almost everyone seemed to have missed the Democrats' Spanish language debate on Univision. Well, Spanish-translated debate on Univision. Two candidates can actually speak Spanish, BR and Chris Dodd, but were forbidden from using their skill. Here's BR's take on the language limits from the Wall Street Journal:

Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor and the only Latino in the presidential field, upbraided Univision moderators for refusing to allow "one of their own" to answer questions in Spanish. He also criticized them for narrowing the debate to Latino-centric issues. "Latinos care about civil rights and immigration but we care about all other issues," he said.

Being bilingual could be a huge asset for the next president, as whoever that person is will be responsible for repairing the damage Bush has done to our nation's image. Hillary has said she will send her husband around the world for the same purpose, perhaps because she's not likable herself. BR or Dodd could use their language skills to strengthen our bond with our Monroe Doctrine-protected friends to the south.

The candidates should be allowed to display all their skills during a debate. It is not an unfair advantage that these candidates learned Spanish years ago. It is a fair advantage that Dodd and BR have a useful skill that their opponents do not.

Republican presidential candidates, with the exception of Sen. John McCain, refused to participate in a similar debate for their party.

After a failed experiment that lasted too long, the PrimeBuzz Blog is back to being free! We welcome you with open arms, save for a few hiccups.

First, Helling, Kraske and Hoover have been gone for so long, they have apparently completely missed the launch of MoPo, despite all the national attention. How 'bout a little blog roll love, guys?

Second, I found this link to a Des Moines Register article in which BR is quoted as claiming God ordained Iowa to hold the first-in-the-nation Presidential caucuses. Dave Helling even pokes a little fun at BR. I've seen Field of Dreams; Iowa and Heaven are pretty much indistinguishable. Everybody knows the first caucuses are held in Heaven and that determines who is going to win the entire election. BR simply mistook Iowa for Heaven. Anyone could have done it.

Mark Felt's post this morning took me over to Dkos where I saw this post comparing the energy plans put forward by Barack, Hillary, John and my boy Billy. You can click the link to see the plans for yourself, but if you're not interested in details, all you need to know is that BR is dominating the "Who's got the best energy policy?" poll.

If this campaign weren't being decided by who looked the best on TV or who's got the best hair cut, things like having a complete energy policy that makes the United States look like the world leader we're supposed to be, would sweep BR straight into the White House. Instead, the NYT is writing about pant suits and denim.

Although Richardson had hoped to eclipse Edwards, he came up a couple of millions short. He raised to $7 million this quarter to John Edwards' $9 million. The NYT story tells us Dean raised $7.6 million during the same quarter in 2003.

Much like the Rush Limbaugh incident with Michael J. Fox brought in about half a million dollars the next day to Claire McCaskill's successful Senate bid, the now-famous showdown between Elizabeth Edwards and Ann Coulter did a lot to provide a last minute surge for haircut.

He won't have Coulter to bail him out next quarter, so look for Richardson to edge him out in the third quarter.

Thanks to the Turner Report I read this very exciting news:

"New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who is barely registering in most polls, has told other Democrats that he expects to raise more money than Edwards this quarter."

Eat it Hair Cut!

(Now I seriously hope that he doesn't end up with egg on his face by not meeting the high expectations he has set for me. After all, how does he know how much Edwards is raising?)

The Wall Street Journal is also talking about Richardson's money in relation to Bloomberg's money:

"New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a candidate of significant experience who is struggling to raise enough money because he comes from a small state and is less well-known than his competitors."

The editorial gets into allowing unlimited contributions to candidates to give less-known candidates a chance the way Bloomberg's money gives him a chance. It's a compelling argument, but it fails to address the problem of leaving public servants indebted to someone other than the people who voted for him or her.

I hate to show Blunt in a positive light, but I was reading this article about Nevada's Republican governor's 28 percent approval rating in the NYT today, and almost fell over laughing. From the article:

In the last few months, Mr. Gibbons, a Republican, announced a plan to turn coal into jet fuel to raise money (problematic, as Nevada has no coal to speak of) and proposed paying for a $3.8 billion shortfall in highway construction money by selling water rights under state highways (it turns out the state did not actually own the rights).