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ew Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson called on Congress yesterday to "de-authorize" the Iraq war and remove all American troops from that country before the end of the year, staking out a strong anti-war position in a crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates.
"The Congress authorized this war several years ago," Richardson said at a campaign stop in Manchester yesterday. "The Congress should now de-authorize the war under the War Powers Act."
Richardson said he would leave no American soldiers in Iraq, bringing most home and sending some to Afghanistan to quell unrest there. He said he expected President Bush and congressional Republicans to oppose a "de-authorization" of the war and assumed that the fight would end up in the Supreme Court.
True to his background as a former United Nations ambassador and international dealmaker, Richardson said he would replace the current military approach with an aggressive diplomatic solution. He said America should convene a meeting with leaders from Iran, Syria, Egypt, Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries to encourage them to send their own troops to help steady Iraq's government. He offered no details about how he would persuade those countries to send their military and money to Iraq as America was withdrawing, but he said he had faith in the power of diplomacy.
"I'm a diplomat," Richardson said in a brief interview. "If I'm president, I would personally handle this."
Richardson is in the middle of a busy two-day campaign swing through New Hampshire, in a week in which half a dozen presidential candidates are visiting the state. Standing out from the Democratic pack will be difficult, Richardson acknowledged, though he congratulated himself for embracing what he called the traditional New Hampshire primary approach.
"I go to the living rooms, and I talk to the voters," he told a small audience at Consuelo's Taqueria, a Mexican restaurant in Manchester. "And believe me, this race isn't over. Voters vote, not money."
At Consuelo's, Richardson chatted in Spanish with the owners, Martin and Marigen Delgadillo. He pulled up a stool, and a loose circle of reporters, campaign staff and supporters gathered around him. Richardson acknowledged the local politicians in the room - a state senator, a city alderman and the welfare commissioner - and then rattled off his itinerary over the next two days: Manchester, Portsmouth, Londonderry, Berlin. ("BER-lin! See - Notice how I say Berlin.")
Both in Manchester and at an afternoon visit to New England College in Henniker, Richardson described a list of initiatives he would bring to the White House: a stronger emphasis on renewable energy, tax incentives to help businesses cover their employees' health insurance costs, and greater U.S. engagement in international diplomacy, including humanitarian crises such as Darfur and the spread of AIDS.
"I would tell the world that, from now on, the U.S. is going to build international coalitions for all our goals," Richardson said. "I would have an America that leads."
Richardson owns perhaps the most impressive resume in the presidential race: 15 years as a U.S. congressman, stints as a Cabinet secretary and an ambassador, and governor of New Mexico since 2001. On Saturday, he will lead a delegation to North Korea to bring back the remains of American soldiers killed in the Korean War half a century ago.
Richardson touted his experience while campaigning yesterday. Yet in person, Richardson rarely acts the role of lifelong government insider. Big and bluff, with a wide face and a meaty handshake, he appears to relish the physical nature of politicking. He grabs elbows and slaps backs. He ribs reporters and remembers the faces of people he hasn't seen in months. Just a few hours into his trip, Richardson was already referring to the New Hampshire state troopers accompanying him as "buddy." He's often unpolished, but he always looks as if he's having fun.
When one person asked him how he would recommend New Hampshire keep young people from leaving the state, Richardson said the state could become a center for innovations in technology.
"That's your governor's background, isn't it?" Richardson said.
"Hey," he called out to a staffer. "Wasn't John Lynch in the hi-tech business?"
Told that Lynch, in fact, worked for a furniture manufacturer, Richardson smiled: "Oh, was it hi-tech furniture?"
Richardson's lack of polish appealed to some people who saw him yesterday.
"I think he's the most straight-talking candidate in the lot," said Art Learnard of Derry, a Democrat who said he hasn't yet settled on a candidate to support.
Richardson was just as loose in his speech at New England College, alternating between policy statements and one-liners - and sometimes erasing the boundary between the two.
He inserted an anecdote about Shirley MacLaine in the middle of his health care proposal. "Why am I telling you this?" he mumbled.
He boasted of his record-setting margin of victory in a state that often leans Republican: "I don't know what Republicans were smoking that day, but they voted for me."
And when a photographer tossed him a snowball, Richardson gamely held it up in his right hand, faced each clicking camera in turn and smiled.
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