New Mexico's governor says New Hampshire will be seeing a lot of him
By Margot Sanger-Katz
Monitor staff
February 18. 2007 10:00AM
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, making his first trip to New Hampshire since announcing his candidacy for president, opened his keynote address at the Concord Democrats fundraiser yesterday by talking about foreign policy. He closed by discussing handshakes.
"I hold the world's hand shaking record. Did you know that?" he said to the crowd of 100, who paid $20 to see him.
Richardson, whose 13,392 handshakes in eight hours in 2002 broke President Theodore Roosevelt's record of 8,000, told listeners that his accomplishment involved diplomacy - he talked the Guinness Book of World Records into requiring only three observers instead of the usual five - and good management - he instructed the board running the New Mexico State Fair to funnel all visitors to one exit so he had the largest possible supply of hands to shake.
The handshaking story was also Richardson's way of telling listeners that he expects to shake a lot of hands in New Hampshire. In a trip that included visits to Concord, Manchester, Tilton, Portsmouth, Hampton and Holderness, Richardson attended the Concord fundraiser, four house parties, a bookstore chat and a very public haircut at Concord's Creative Colors & Cuts. Richardson, who commands about one percent of New Hampshire's Democratic votes, according to a February CNN/WMUR poll, said he hopes to win voters over through face-to-face meetings in intimate settings.
"I don't come here, do one event in a gym and leave," Richardson said, a likely reference to rival candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who came to Dover High School for a campaign event yesterday before quickly returning to Washington for a test vote on a resolution opposing the proposed troop surge in Iraq. "I've been here two days. I'm thinking about moving here."
Even at the larger Concord event, Richardson strove to make his visit seem homey and unofficial. Clad in shiny black cowboy boots, he chided his aides for calling a hallway in the IBEW Hall a "green room." When he swept in for his haircut on Friday, he seemed more at home making a few quick campaign remarks as surprised customers had their hair blow dried.
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