Coffee Talk With Bill Richardson

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The Day After

By JEFF ZELENY
April 27, 2007

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The bacon is sizzling in the kitchen, the second pot of coffee is warming on the burner and Bill Richardson is sitting at a wooden table inside the yellow house on the corner of Wheat and Woodrow streets here.

It’s shortly before sunrise on Friday – after a brief night’s sleep – but Mr. Richardson has already done a live interview on CNN and is taking another glance at the morning newspapers. The topic of the day, of course, is the first Democratic presidential debate.

The State, the largest daily in South Carolina, poses the pivotal question in its front-page banner headline: “Who stood out in S.C.?”

As I sit down for a cup of coffee with Mr. Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, we chew over that very point.

“It’s the kind of format where it’s hard to distinguish yourself unless you pick a fight,” he says. “And I don’t think anyone is in the mood to pick a fight.”

Not yet, perhaps. But as we talk about the debate – and the early months of the Democratic presidential race – Mr. Richardson is careful to say that he’s not frustrated by the lack of attention his campaign is receiving. He tries hard – perhaps too hard -- not to Theleave the impression that he’s the slightest bit bothered by being lumped into the second-tier of candidates.

article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/politics/27web-zeleny.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print



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