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Richardson reiterates: "I am not running for Senate."

Nedra Pickler
Thursday, October 4, 2007

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WASHINGTON — Democrat Bill Richardson said Thursday that he's not giving up his presidential bid to run for a Senate seat that has opened in his home state of New Mexico.

"I am not running for the Senate. I'm running for president," Richardson said in a brief phone interview with The Associated Press.

He hung up before answering follow-up questions about whether he might run if his White House bid is unsuccessful. But his spokesman Tom Reynolds called later to say Richardson would continue serving as governor if he doesn't get the nomination.

"We are confident we are going to win," Reynolds said. "If for some unfathomable reason he is not the Democratic nominee, he will return and serve out his term as governor. We're not leaving any door open to run for the Senate."

Republican Sen. Pete Domenici announced Thursday in Albuquerque that he will retire at the end of his term in January 2009. The 75-year-old, who has served six terms, said he has a progressive disease that can cause brain dysfunction and eventually make him incapable of serving.

If Richardson would have considered running, it could have given Democrats their best shot of picking up the seat. Richardson is popular in the swing state, having won a second term last year with 69 percent of the vote, and he would be forced from the governorship by term limits in 2010.

The filing deadline for the Senate seat is Feb. 12, 2008, after nominating contests in more than half the states will determine whether he still has a shot at winning his party's nod. But other Democratic candidates will likely begin campaigning for the Senate seat far before that.

Richardson has been overshadowed in the presidential race by Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. But he has moved up in polls of voters in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire and recently has been taking a more aggressive stance against his rivals, particularly on Iraq.

During a speech at Georgetown University Thursday, Richardson criticized Clinton, Obama and Edwards for failing to say when they will bring all troops out of Iraq. All three have said they will end the war but leave an undetermined number of troops in the country.

"That is changing the mission, not ending the war," Richardson said.

"What my colleagues are suggesting - a slow, protracted exit - will only multiply the casualties and delay political progress," he said.

After his formal remarks, the governor took questions from students, including one who asked if he would accept any of his rivals' invitation to be vice president after being so critical of them. Richardson responded that he's not being critical and simply pointing out policy differences. Plus, he added to laughter and applause, "I'm going to win this nomination."