Singer: I want to ask you about one of those issues - immigration. The House Democrats, I believe it's Congressman Gutierrez, just put forward some legislation that would offer a path to citizenship but would require people to leave America and go back to their home country before coming in to try and become citizens. The path would take something like 15 years. Are you in favor of that type of proposal? Or what would you like to see?

Richardson: I'd like to see the original Kennedy-McCain initiative, which established a path to legalization without the return that involves setting standards like if you speak English, if you pass a background check, if you pay a fine for coming illegally, you pay back taxes, you embrace American values and you don't get ahead of those who get here legally I think that provision is cleaner, it's clearer, it's more compassionate. You know it's divided up by certain years. You can be eligible for green card or some sort of guest worker pass. I believe that is far preferable. But I haven't seen Gutierrez'... Does it have that provision to return?

Singer: Yeah.

Richardson: I prefer the Kennedy-McCain version.

Singer: Now speaking about the West and not necessarily just the West but kind of the old Southwest area like Texas. I don't know if you had the chance to see the results of the special election in Texas 23, I believe it was, between Henry Bonilla and Ciro Rodriguez. Rodriguez really did phenomenally well among counties that were overwhelmingly Hispanic. Bexar County, which has traditionally gone to Republicans, really came out in full force behind Congressman (now) Rodriguez. I was wondering, do you see yourself in a general election going after some of these states that have been overlooked by Democrats in previous cycles?

Richardson: Well, I may be the first Democrat in a general election that might win Texas, although the odds are probably still against it. But I believe with my Western roots, my second amendment position, the fact that there's a huge Hispanic vote in Texas, the fact that New Mexico and Texas are neighbors, that we share values and a lot of issues in common, that I would be competitive, I believe, in Texas in a general election.

Singer: A couple questions relatedly talking about voter registration. Would you a) like to see a large increase in voter registration and b) what do you think of the efforts, and now we see it's very concerted by the Bush administration, to use both the Justice Department's civil rights division but also United States Attorneys to stop people from registering to vote, to scare, predominantly in your state, Hispanic voters?

Richardson: It shows the deep politicization of the Justice Department, which is totally inappropriate, not just for U.S. Attorneys but to prevent from candidates from voting. You've seen it in Ohio and Florida, you've seen it in Texas. It's really unacceptable.

And what I'd like to see is, one - and I've done it in New Mexico - a return to paper ballots. We did it a year ago with verifiable optical scanners. I would do that nationally. Number two, I'd support same day registration. You know in the last election only 45 percent of eligible voters voted. So I think it's important that one of our fundamental priorities should be to make voting easier and more accessible to all people.

Singer: I don't know what the state of your legislature is, if it's out now or if...

Richardson: It's still in.

Singer: Are you looking to put forward within New Mexico, as a model for the nation, same-day registration, things like that?

Richardson: In my next session of the legislature I can see myself fully supporting that, yes, and pushing it.

Singer: I want to move in a different direction, also going back to something you said last night at the culinary workers' union. You said something to the effect of, "We need to get out of Iraq immediately with diplomacy." And I was wondering if you could elaborate on that, what exactly that means and entails.

Richardson: Sure, of course. If I were President today, I'd get out by the end of this calendar year. But I would do that with diplomacy, two diplomatic initiatives. One, a US-led diplomatic effort to get the three religious sects together - the Sunni, the Shia, the Kurds - in a reconciliation effort that would basically share power, coalition government, divide oil revenues in a Dayton type structure of three entities governed by an Iraqi federal government. In other words, not three separate states but a loose confederation of three entities that are one Iraq.

The second part would be a diplomatic effort to try to find ways to provide future security and reconstruction for Iraq because we have to give them a chance to be secure as a nation, and that would be a security conference involving donor countries like Saudi Arabia, like Jordan, like Turkey - but also I would invite Iran and Syria, because I believe Iran and Syria have a stake in the stability of Iraq and the Persian Gulf. They don't want wars. And I believe we can have a serious negotiation involving European countries, Muslim countries that would basically create a zone of stability in the Persian Gulf and Iraq. But it takes those diplomatic efforts for it to happen.

Singer: On that issue of Iran, you made a big effort within the blogosphere, within the Netroots, to put forward a vision of American diplomacy and speaking with Iran, which is very different from the effort being put forward by the current administration. I was wondering if you could speak to that and also specifically what you would say to Ahmadinejad and his administration in talks.

Richardson: I believe Ahmadinejad is not the person to negotiate with. I think he is just too intolerant. I would negotiate with, probably at the Secretary of State level, with more ministry officials that are more open and tolerant. I would say to Iran, "Look, we have some areas in common. You don't want to see sanctions on your energy. We can't allow you to build nuclear weapons. But perhaps we can compromise on nuclear weapons by helping you develop a civilian nuclear capacity and we'll assure you of a fuel cycle - in other words buyers." But you have to involve Europe in this. You can't just do it as the United States.

I believe we need to talk to the democratic forces within Iran. There are a lot of students. I would engage in people-to-people contacts and business contacts and reaching out to the approximately 40 percent of Iranians that always vote for progressive and moderate candidates.

Instead we threaten Iran, we saber-rattle. I would be talking to them directly and delivering a tough message because you can negotiate effectively delivering a tough message and see if there's any common ground. I remember when Yitzhak Rabin said, the ex-foreign minister of Israel, "You don't make peace with your friends, you make peace with your enemies."

Singer: What should we be doing in terms of Darfur? You went to Sudan. What should the American President, what should the administration be doing in terms of Darfur?

Richardson: First, push the members of the Security Council with enormous pressure to have a UN peacekeeping force there. The president of Sudan does not permit that to happen. He has an African Union force that I believe is not doing the job. So certified UN peacekeepers, that's number one.

Number two, to pressure Sudan get countries that have influence over Sudan, like China, which purchases oil from Sudan; like Libya, which has a lot of cultural ties and economic ties; like other Western countries - France, Britain - that can place sanctions on Sudan, travel sanctions, economic sanctions.

And then lastly just the bully pulpit approach. The President should talk about that tragedy every day and try to get not just nations to join and pressure Sudan and the rebels to get together but the international community, the United Nations. The United Nations should be more vigorous. And this is where I would try to become a moral leader as a nation again. Participating [in the effort to end] the tragedy in Darfur, find ways to be a leader in the effort to fight global climate change, find ways that we try to eradicate poverty in the world with progressive aid programs, do something about AIDS and refugees and those issues that nobody wants to talk about, genocide. That's how I believe we can restore America's role in the world.

Singer: Two final questions, and they're related. First one, what role do you see the progressive blogosphere playing in your campaign to get out your message, to help you win the nomination?

Richardson: It's crucial. I can't afford the media and television and traditional media buys of Senators Clinton and Obama. I'm not in their fundraising bracket. I don't have their money. But I have votes and I have a message, and the blogs are essential. This is why we have a pretty extensive blog effort and this is why I try in every stop that I go to speak with bloggers, to give them access, to try to spread my message.

Singer: Final question relatedly. If there's one message that you'd specifically like to send out to the blogosphere whether it's on Iraq or issues that are important in terms of technology or whatever to these activists, what message would that be?

Richardson: Get involved in trying to help the people of Darfur. Join the Save Darfur coalition. Find ways that bloggers can help. This is a human tragedy that nobody's paying attention to.

Singer: Terrific. Well thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

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