New Mexico Governor and Tufts alum Bill Richardson (A '70, F '71) ended his campaign for the presidency on Jan. 10 after disappointing fourth-place finishes in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.
"It is with great pride, understanding and acceptance that I am ending my campaign for president of the United States," Richardson said in a speech to supporters.
Fluent in Spanish, Richardson is the first major Latin-American candidate to run for president. He emphasized the importance of his candidacy in attracting Latin Americans, an increasingly significant political demographic.
But his campaign was overshadowed by the two major candidates in the race, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.). He finished a distant fourth in both of the first two contests in the Democratic race.
"It's been an exhilarating and humbling year, an experience I will treasure and I will never forget," Richardson said.
"Despite overwhelming financial and political odds, I am proud of the campaign we waged. And most importantly the influence we had on the issues that matter the most to the future of this country."
Calling himself one of the most qualified candidates for president, Richardson campaigned on his résumé. The governor has also served as a U.S. Congressman, an ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of energy under former President Bill Clinton. He ran witty ads portraying himself as an overqualified applicant in a job interview.
During his concession speech, Richardson said he that felt his campaign had succeeded in accomplishing some important goals. "We made our case to the people," he said in his concession speech. "We made our case for change, but guided by an experienced hand. We made our case for a foreign policy with principles and realism, of rebuilding alliances through diplomacy and unflagging support for democracy.
"We made our case for rebuilding our country with a laser-like focus on economic growth, quality jobs like we've done here in New Mexico, investing in education, science, math and the arts and providing universal health care. And we made our case for bringing people together," he said.
Tufts Political Science Professor Kent Portney said that Richardson's dropping out should have little impact on the rest of the race. "Richardson didn't command much support," Portney said, "so his departure from the race won't have much effect. And the evidence is that Richardson's supporters' second choices are evenly split among the other three front-runners. So the impact is likely to be negligible."
At Tufts, Richardson double-majored in French and political science and was a standout baseball player. He graduated in 1970 and went on to earn a master's degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School.
Richardson told supporters in his speech that he knew besting candidates like Clinton and Obama would be difficult.
"I knew from the beginning that this would be an upward climb," he said in the speech. "When I entered the campaign, it was clear that we as Democrats had the most talented field of my entire lifetime, running to change the direction of our country. And in the end, one of them will."
