Another One Bites the Dust

Sources are telling CNN that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will drop out of the Democratic race for president later today.

The numbers are the story, apparently.

Richardson, who is part Hispanic, finished fourth in Iowa and New Hampshire, neither of which has a large Hispanic population. But Richardson's campaign also suffers from a lack of funding, and donations haven't been on the rise lately.

So, according to the reports, Richardson will return to his home state and announce his withdrawal.

I haven't heard any speculation about this, but I wonder when Richardson will announce his intentions -- if he has any -- regarding Republican Pete Domenici's open Senate seat.

As you may recall, a few months ago, Domenici announced his intention to leave the Senate for health reasons, creating an opening in New Mexico. Prominent Republicans immediately began lining up to seek the party's nomination, but I haven't heard anything about the Democrats.

I think most were waiting to see what Richardson, who is quite popular in his home state, would do.

And, frankly, I'm a bit surprised that he is dropping out of the presidential race.

I've felt, all along, that Richardson was a longshot to win the nomination, but on Tuesday, as the returns came in from New Hampshire, he appeared to be focusing on Nevada, which will hold its caucus on Jan. 19.

So I assumed he was making plans for campaigning where he could expect to find a more receptive ethnic audience.

After making appeals in states that are both more than 90% white, candidates will find the population of Nevada is decidedly more diverse. Nearly one-fifth of the people in Nevada are Hispanic.

And that's another part of the numbers. It's the part of the story that seems to get lost in the talk of the potential for the first woman or the first black nominee for president.

But Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic group in America. They are poised to be an influential group in American politics, and it was long assumed they would gravitate to the Republican Party, but many have been alienated by the hard-line approach to immigration that has been taken by many Republicans.

And, frankly, many Hispanics weren't encouraged by what they saw in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

To this point, voter turnout among Hispanics hasn't been high. But it's no stretch to suggest that whoever can mobilize the Hispanic vote will win control of the government for his/her party for a generation.

For awhile, I wondered if Richardson might play a role in that story, but now it appears it will have to be someone else.

At least, on the presidential level.

Richardson may yet have a role to play in the U.S. Senate.