Unhappy looking camper

Richardson's winning smile doesn't get any love on Slate's Presidential Mashup. Hillary Clinton's big smiling mug stands out on the graphic as the biggest and whitest, while Obama and Edwards, just a little smaller, bookend the former first lady. But what's going on with Bill? He's down there on the bottom of the floating head pyramid with a look of confused anger.

But onto the transcript. There some interesting tidbits here, including Bill's answer to an answer about troop withdraw from Iraq that acknowledges "the other three candidates" but no one else. It's an interesting move for Richardson to put himself with the front runners and ignore the abundance of second tier candidates. It's bold, though a little cocky, but in the end it seems smart to ignore the huge field and for Richardson to compare himself, similarities and differences, to the candidates most people are talking about.

Again Richardson denies any interest in becoming the VP, but without any solid reasons. Sure New Mexico is great and there's probably not a ton of time for the VP to ride his horse but the answer still seems canned and the Gov. refuses to say what about the vice presidency doesn't appeal to him. Nor really why the presidency does.

The best bit, and most fitting for the article at hand, comes from a response to Bill Maher's question about Richardson's faith in voters.
"The national media, for example, in Washington and New York that likes to tell the American people who's going to win, what the polls are saying. I feel that the American voter is substantially well-informed, and it's up to politicians and political leaders and parties to stimulate greater voter turnout, and that means talking honestly about issues."
Hopefully Bill's tiny, grouchy face, and Hillary's big, sparkling one won't sway too many voters out of Richardson's camp, but at least he knows that the problem exists, and that we are paying attention to it.