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.

He was a baseball star at Tufts, where he discovered the love for politics that has shaped the rest of his life.