Bill Richardson: Whither or Withering?

In only a few short months Burque Babble will begin to care about the 2008 Presidential campaign. Last night I ran across a Democratic "debate" on PBS and could not continue my channel surf past Channel 5 fast enough. I'm not saying these way-too-early months aren't important, or that others should join me in an informal protest of the absurd length of such campaigns, or that the states of Iowa and New Hampshire should have their voting age populations forcibly removed and high school seniors sent to Venezuelan re-education camps led by Hugo Chavez on the chance these 12th graders will become voting age eligible in the upcoming months.

I am also not saying that Iowa and New Hampshire should have salt liberally poured onto all farmlands, all buildings destroyed and roads ripped up with backhoes and landmines.

I'm not saying we need to go quite this far. Not at all.

And I am, somewhat, interested in where our beloved Governor ends up post-Election way far off in the too-distant future. Last night I read a FBIHOP piece over at Daily Kos bringing up the wishful idea that Richardson might drop out of the Prez race and beat up on 'ol St. Pete in the '08 Senate race. HOPster hat tips Joe Monahan for the story, and since I am still in a Monahan-free mindset this was news to me.

Fact is, it might be news to everyone but FBIHOP and Monahan, but Richardson v. Domenici has a definite marketing zing to it. Mario Burgos, for instance, would immediately go into blogposting apoplexy.

At the same time, others at the same site (DailyKos) are convinced Richardson is doing his own "Surge" with his calls for complete withdrawal from Iraq (agree), comments that U.S. soldiers are just making things worse there (definitely agree), and that being fat, unlike being gay or lesbian, isn't a choice (what the Hell?). These folks think he still has a good chance for the Presidency. Interestingly, no one from New Mexico seems to think this.

I dunno, I don't really care yet. For some reason, I'm having a hard time caring whether Richardson withers or whithers his way one way or the other. Maybe it's because I don't live in either Iowa or New Hampshire. Maybe it's because my feelings for Bill Richardson are so ambivalent. Maybe it's because having a pretty stocky guy say being fat is not a choice while being a gay/lesbian is a choice sounds self-centered, ill-informed and just like something Bill Richardson would say.

Meanwhile, I continuing on to Channel 6, then 7, then 8, then 9...oh wait, there's a Diamondbacks game on Channel 10...there's a race I can care about in September 2007.