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November 30, 2007

Bill Richardson on "Political Capital with Al Hunt"

Bloomberg

(Note: the following is a rush transcript of an interview with Bill Richardson that will air this weekend on Political Capital with Al Hunt on Bloomberg Television.)

(This is not a legal transcript. Bloomberg LP cannot guarantee its accuracy.)

AL HUNT: And we begin the program with Democratic presidential candidate and New Mexico Governor, Bill Richardson. Governor, thank you for joining us.

GOVERNOR BILL RICHARDSON (D-NM): Glad to be with you, Al.

MR. HUNT: Let's start with energy. You have a long-term plan for energy independence. But if you were president right now, oil climbing to a $100 a barrel, home heating oil costs off the charts in places like New Hampshire this winter. What should President Bush do right now?

GOV. RICHARDSON: Right now he should assure the American people that there is enough home heating oil, not just in the Northeast and areas of need; and secondly, the Congress should pass an emergency measure to help those individuals, middle and poor, that may need some help with home heating oil prices. Short of that, obviously having more investigations into possible price fixing and using the petroleum reserve, which I don't advocate, are the only short-term issues that are available.

MR. HUNT: Let me ask you about the strategic reserve. You tapped into that when you were energy secretary. Senator Clinton, one of your rivals, has said with prices going up the way they are now, we ought to use the strategic petroleum reserve. Why are you against it?

GOV. RICHARDSON: Well, Al, when I used it, it was because of a shortage of home heating oil. And we didn't sell the oil; we put it on the market -

MR. HUNT: So it's a bad idea to do it now?

GOV. RICHARDSON: - and we basically got the oil - yeah, I think it's a bad idea to do it now because it's not going to affect prices. I mean, prices are $100 per barrel. This is outrageous. This is a huge dependence on imported oil, countries that are not our friends, that affects our national security. What we need to do is have a 10-year plan. It's going to take a comprehensive strategy that involves even sacrificing the American people in terms of energy efficiency, their homes, if they are - the way they get to work, the way that they deal with their daily appliances. It's going to take a national comprehensive Apollo effort, not these little weak steps like the Congress doing 30- to 35-miles-per-gallon fuel efficiency.

MR. HUNT: Another crisis is housing. Do you think the government should require these mortgage service companies to reset lower interest rates to prevent more foreclosures?

GOV. RICHARDSON: Yes, I think we need a government intervention of some kind because what we have today is the danger of the American dream, home ownership, in peril. It's going to get substantially worse. What we need is some kind of government entity, like the RTC that would bring lenders and homeowners together in a way to ease some of these foreclosures to reduce interest rates, to take steps like you mentioned.

MR. HUNT: Governor, the Republican debate the other night focused heavily on tough talk about immigration, especially from Governor Romney. What was your take on that?

GOV. RICHARDSON: Well, I was almost not just disgusted, I was depressed because everyone is trying to outdo each other on demonizing immigrants. And that is not only wrong; it's bad for the economy. I would have a balanced immigration plan. Yes, we have to secure our borders -

MR. HUNT: Who were the culprits in - who were culprits in demonizing immigrants - immigrants at that debate the other night?

GOV. RICHARDSON: Well, the Republican Party for one, all of the candidates, I mean, except for Senator McCain, who has a balanced approach and who knows something about the issue because he's like me, a border-state Senator and I'm a border-state governor. You have to be balanced, Al. I think it's unrealistic to think we're going to deport 12 million people.

We ought to create a path to legalization with certain standards, not amnesty, not citizenship, but, you know, if they - if they - if they speak English, they learn English, they pay back taxes, they pass a background check, they pay a fine for coming here illegally, and then we first take care of legal immigrants, which is another crisis, then you couple that with securing the border.

We do need to secure the border, but more with border patrol agents, more with technology, maybe keep the National Guard longer, but this idea of a fence is ridiculous; it's a bad image. The Congress only paid for half of it. And if you have a 12-foot fence, you know what is going to happen: 13-foot ladders when people are desperate.

MR. HUNT: Governor, let me turn to foreign policy, the Annapolis conference this week on the Middle East. President Bush said it was encouraging, but he has decried what he calls the disastrous hands-on Clintonian approach to this issue. As you look at ahead now with the Israeli-Palestinian issue, what role should President Bush play?

GOV. RICHARDSON: He needs to play a role like President Clinton did, get engaged. You can't just give speeches and leave it all to his Secretary of State. If the process of Annapolis is going to work - and I'm going to give him a little credit at least for starting negotiations and having a framework that protects Israel security in exchange for the establishment of Palestinian state, you can't let secretaries of state only get engaged.

And this president for seven years has done nothing. This is his first effort to try to bring the parties together. And so finally he wakes up, and if he is going to have an effort at restoring his legacy in foreign policy, which is not a good one, he has to get personally engaged to get both sides to deal with the issues of the 67 borders, Jerusalem, Palestinian refuges, ways that have divided both sides. But here is my big worry: I think it's very important that unless he gets personally engaged, you know, our relationship with Israel which needs to be strong - we need to support Israel. Today, you know, Israel has Hamas on one side that have Hezbollah. You have Iran trying to build nuclear weapons, and we have no diplomatic effort to deal with all of those issues.

MR. HUNT: Governor, a question about politics. You talk about the momentum you have. You know, I looked at the last five Iowa polls, courtesy of polling.com, and you averaged a little under 10 percent. Edwards and Obama and Clinton all are in the low to high 20s. You really need some kind of a miracle in these next four-and-a-half weeks, don't you?

GOV. RICHARDSON: Well, you know, I remember that Senator Kerry and Edwards were sort of in the same spot about this time four years ago. I've got momentum now. I'm trying to be in the top three in Iowa, same in New Hampshire. I think that is very achievable. I'm working everybody. By next weekend, I will have visited all of Iowa's 99 counties. And you know how Iowa is; they are retail politics. I think these polls right now are very fluid. About 47 percent of Iowa voters are undecided. So I believe my message of being the most experienced candidate who has actually done things like balanced budgets and cut taxes is going to get through.

But, you know, it's striking distance. You just said it: 10 points. You know, anything can happen, and I feel very good right now with my momentum.

MR. HUNT: Win, show, or place - anyone that doesn't finish in the top three in Iowa is basically dead?

GOV. RICHARDSON: Well, it's not good. I hope New Hampshire and Nevada, which is a Western state, which are the next two, can give me a boost. But I feel very strongly that being in the top three in Iowa is very achievable. I can feel it; I can sense the momentum, the crowds.

MR. HUNT: But also, very necessary for any of you to be in the top three in Iowa?

GOV. RICHARDSON: Well, it's pretty important. If you don't place in the - you know, in the top three in a field of six or seven, you know, you probably have got to start thinking whether your campaign is catching on or not.

MR. HUNT: Governor Richardson, good luck out in that campaign trail in this, very, very challenging next month or so. Thank you for joining us today.

When we come back, what happens now? Analysis of the Annapolis summit after the break. (END)

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