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WASHINGTON — There have been meetings of the National Governors Association where you could run into several candidates for president, but this year there was just one: Bill Richardson.

And the difference from fellow governors was obvious. Richardson weaved political stops between association sessions, including fund-raisers in Baltimore and Takoma Park, Md., on Monday night.

Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack last week dropped out of a Democratic field dominated by senators and former senators, with Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois the frontrunners. Three former Republican governors, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, James Gilmore of Virginia and Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, remain in the GOP field.

Four of the last five presidents were previously governors, but this year the issues and the demands for money to compete in so many early primaries in 2008 may be working against the chief state executives, said Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat.

"The issues at hand are so caught up in the war and the performance of the current president that it has been a benefit to those speaking to those issues nationally, who are members of the Senate and so are naturally in a much more prominent position today," Bredesen said.

"I think it's a bad way to elect a president. There's so much rich soil to draw from in this country than whoever happens to be in the news a couple of years before the race."

Vilsack cited money woes for changing his race plans.

"It's very tough to do, especially as a governor. I think we were winning the idea primary, but the money primary was the one that mattered," Vilsack said on the MSNBC program "Hardball."

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, said governors are at a disadvantage at national fund-raising but that Richardson, "because of his national contacts, has the ability to raise money better than the average governor."

Richardson insists his campaign will not suffer Vilsack's fate.

"There are candidates that are flush with money. I'm not flush with money, but I'm flush with political support, and we're going to be respectable in the fund-raising," he told The Tribune.

Former Democratic Congressman Richard Gephardt of Missouri, no stranger to losing presidential quests, said the lack of governors running for president is just "the way the cards got dealt this time."

"I think the governors are still really strong candidates. People are looking for leadership ability and executive leadership ability, and governors can much more easily demonstrate that than members of Congress," Gephardt said.

Richardson said he believes he is close to his immediate objective of moving into the top tier of candidates.

"My polls are moving up," he said. "I believe I'm a governor with foreign policy experience. I've got the best of both worlds. The American people want an executive in their president. They want foreign policy experience. I've got them both. I've just got to get that message out there."

Richardson has been emphasizing foreign policy this last week, specifically the Bush administration's stance with Iran. When the governors met with Bush at the White House on Monday morning, Richardson said he asked Bush why he would not negotiate directly with Iran. The White House did not provide a transcript of the closed session.

Richardson's trip here is official taxpayer-funded business, but he has been in and out of the governors association conference for politics. He spoke to a forum sponsored by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees on Sunday.

After the White House meeting, Richardson signed an agreement with the governors of California, Arizona and Washington to develop a regional target within six months to reduce greenhouse gases and to develop an actual program within 18 months to achieve the target. Oregon also is part of the compact.

Richardson then skipped a governors' committee meeting where Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman was talking about the administration's plan for biofuels. Instead, Richardson spoke at another hotel to the National Congress of American Indians, where he was introduced by NCAI President Joe Garcia of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in northern New Mexico.

Richardson promised that, if he is elected president, he will create a Cabinet-level agency for Indian Affairs that will be headed by an American Indian. (President Clinton afforded similar status to the Environmental Protection Agency, allowing its administrator to attend Cabinet meetings.)

Richardson also pledged to attend a debate on Indian issues scheduled for August in California.

Before he leaves today, Richardson is scheduled to speak at the monthly Latino leaders' luncheon organized by lobbyist Mickey Ibarra.