Bill Richardson
Albuquerque, N.M. [11-04-02] He could have been a professional baseball player. Instead, Bill Richardson immersed himself in politics, climbing the ranks from the State Department Congressional Office to Ambassador to Secretary of Energy. On November 5th, the Tufts graduate hopes to continue his political career as the governor of New Mexico.
Richardson
- who served seven terms as one of the state's congressmen - is
heavily favored to win the election, thanks to the endorsements
of 13 newspapers in the region and a strategy of heavy campaigning.
In September,
the Tufts graduate made news - and Guinness Book of World Records
history -- while campaigning in Albuquerque. Over an eight-hour
period, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations shattered
President Theodore Roosevelt's record for the most handshakes by
a politician.
"Richardson's
new mark of 13,392 for an eight-hour period, with a Guinness World
Records official standing by, went well beyond the Roosevelt record
of 8,513 handshakes set at the White House," reported the Los
Angeles Times. "Richardson divided his handshaking between
the New Mexico State Fair and a tailgate party outside the University
of New Mexico."
According to
the newspaper, the candidate sunk his hand into ice after breaking
the 1907 record, which Roosevelt set while greeting visitors to
the White House. "It's stiff and it's sore," Richardson
-- who holds undergraduate and Fletcher degrees from Tufts -- told
the Associated Press following the events.
Ahead in the
polls, the political veteran remains highly favored to win election
as New Mexico's governor on Tuesday, which would add to his already
impressive career in office.
A four-time
nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, the Tufts graduate served in
Congress for more than 14 years and was the first Hispanic to hold
two Cabinet positions - U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and Secretary
of Energy.
But Richardson could have led a very different career.
After graduating from high school, the Kansas City A's offered him a spot on their roster. Richardson turned them down in favor of enrolling at Tufts, where his path to politics began.
Online: http://enews.tufts.edu/printerversion/110402Campaign2002Richardson