CENTENNIAL, Colo.-
Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson said Wednesday that rival candidate Barack Obama should apologize to Hillary Rodham Clinton after they traded accusations of nasty politics Wednesday over Hollywood donor David Geffen, who once backed Bill Clinton but now supports his wife’s top rival.
Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, said Democrats should reserve their barbs for Republicans, and he pledged to run a positive campaign.
“I believe it’s best if Sen. Obama apologizes for the comments made by David Geffen. This is a small blip. It will be over soon,” he said.
The Clinton campaign demanded that Obama denounce comments made by the DreamWorks movie studio founder, who told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd in Wednesday’s editions that while “everybody in politics lies,” the former president and his wife “do it with such ease, it’s troubling.”
Obama refused, saying he wasn’t going to apologize for remarks made by someone else.
Richardson was in Colorado to kick off his exploratory committee for the presidency with a fundraiser, hoping his Western roots and Hispanic heritage will pay off in a region that has swung Democratic. He said he hoped to raise $150,000 at the event.
Richardson said four years ago, the Rocky Mountain West had seven Republican governors. Now five of the seven are Democrats, including Colorado’s new governor, Bill Ritter.
Richardson said Colorado will be a key state after Denver won the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
“The road to the White House leads through Colorado and Denver,” he said.
Independent Colorado pollster Floyd Ciruli said although Richardson trails Clinton and Obama, he has an advantage in the West, which is seen as a major battleground in the 2008 presidential race.
“He’s hoping for favorite-son status. He’s a Western governor familiar with Western issues and he’s Hispanic,” Ciruli said.
Ciruli said Richardson lacks celebrity status but has years more experience than Clinton and Obama.
Still, with most of that experience coming from presidential appointments, including energy secretary and ambassador to the United Nations, Richardson might make a better vice-presidential candidate, Ciruli said.
Running for president will build name recognition, he said, and “this is a good way to get on the ticket” as a vice presidential candidate.
Richardson rejected that, saying he’d rather be governor than vice president.
“You don’t run for the presidency to be vice president. I’m in this race to win,” he said.
