Gov. Bill Richardson played pundit last night at the Democratic National Convention leading up to Hillary Clinton’s speech. In his comments on MSNBC, Richardson said Hillary has thrown her sincere support behind Obama, but that Bill Clinton is a little slower. He also said Clinton was still mad over Richardson’s endorsement over Obama—they have yet to speak and make up. But he’s sure that Clinton will come around, Richardson said. And Hillary is a “team player.”



Richardson went on to talk about what Obama needs to do to win the western swing states: Focus on Hispanics, emphasize environmentalism and clean air, talk about the individualism of the west, and finally, he needs to spend a lot of time in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. Richardson says he worries because other states always get more attention than the west, but that “things are changing” in the west. “It’s the new battleground for the Democrats and we’ve got to take advantage of that,” he said.

 

After Clinton’s speech, Richardson said she’d hit a "500 foot home run" and that maybe it was a signal to Bill Clinton:

“She couldn’t have been clearer: She’s firmly behind Senator Obama,” Richardson said. “She hit a 500-foot home run.”

 

Besides sending a message to her supporters, Richardson said, the speech also “may have been a signal to her husband that it’s time to get behind Senator Obama.”

 

 

This seems to imply that Bill Clinton did not know the contents of or have a hand in crafting Hillary’s speech beforehand.