Smear, or No Smear?

Ben Smith (Politico):

Richardson Defense on Character Raises Questions---New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's 2008 presidential campaign has been burdened by unusually public discussion about his behavior with women.

The lieutenant governor of New Mexico, Diane Denish was quoted in the Albuquerque Journal saying she avoids standing or sitting near Richardson because of his physical manner, which she said was not improper but was "annoying." The governor, she said, "pinches my neck. He touches my hip, my thigh, sort of the side of my leg."

On repeated occasions, Richardson has been pressed by reporters or Democratic activists on whether his personal conduct can withstand public scrutiny.

Richardson, in an interview with The Politico, denied behaving inappropriately, calling the talk "mean-spirited." Still, the concerns have become enough of a headwind for Richardson's campaign that the candidate has a more substantive response -- that his personal conduct was vetted, and effectively given a seal of approval, when he was considered for the vice presidential nomination by John F. Kerry in 2004.

"The Kerry people vetted me for vice president," he told The Politico last week. He knew this, he said, because Jim Johnson, the veteran Washington lawyer and Democratic insider, "has said so."

But that line of defense may be less effective in shutting down speculation than Richardson hopes. After five days of phone calls and e-mails, and an initial refusal to comment, Johnson released a one-sentence statement saying Richardson had been "vetted" but offering no details about what that entailed.

"The Kerry campaign vetted Governor Richardson, and nothing was found that would have prevented him from being chosen as John Kerry's vice presidential candidate," Johnson said.

Three other people -- either senior Kerry aides or Democrats involved in the vice presidential search process -- said in interviews that Richardson's past was not subject to any examination aimed at determining whether his personal conduct with women was a potential political problem.

These Democrats, who declined to be quoted by name discussing a sensitive personal matter, said that Richardson withdrew from consideration by Kerry before undergoing a final round of vetting. The final round would have required delivering financial documents and other information to Johnson and his team for an intensive examination of a candidate's fitness for high office. Among those who did go through such a process were then-Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and John Edwards (D-N.C.), then-House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.), then-Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark.

"He wanted to be considered because he wanted his name out there," a senior Democrat close to the vice presidential process said of Richardson. "And once his name was out there, he withdrew. So there was never a full vetting."

This Democrat said Richardson's citing of the 2004 vetting process as a rejoinder to questions about his personal behavior is "a crazy thing to go around saying."

Richardson's campaign manager, Dave Contarino, told The Politico that Johnson told him last fall that Richardson's 2004 vetting had covered allegations of "things with women," and that Johnson told him he'd made two dozen calls on the matter and been convinced "that there was no there there."

Johnson declined to discuss details of the process.

The willingness of Richardson and top aides to speak directly about speculation over his relations with women is itself an indication of how much the issue may be shaping public perceptions of his presidential prospects.

Richardson said the speculation had "no foundation." Even so, many Democrats say gossip about Richardson's personal behavior is an important factor keeping an exceptionally well-credentialed politician -- a former energy secretary and ambassador to the United Nations, who has been elected in a swing state -- from entering the top tier of 2008 candidates.

On the day in January that Richardson announced his campaign, Steve Clemons, a former Democratic staffer who is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, asked in an open letter: "Have you behaved inappropriately or not in public settings with female members of your government administration?"

The question had already been raised by the Albuquerque Journal, which in December 2005 published a front-page piece about Richardson under the headline "Hands-On Governor." Richardson told the newspaper he has an informal, physical style with both men and women that he employs to lighten the mood and connect with people.

Denish -- a Democrat who ran on the same ticket as Richardson -- said that she sometimes finds Richardson's physical style "irritating and annoying" but that he had never touched her in an improper way. Still, she said, his behavior was inappropriate in public because it could be misconstrued.

Lanny Davis, a former Clinton aide and spokesman for the White House legal counsel, also called The Politico, on the prompting of the Richardson campaign, to aver that when he vetted Richardson for a Cabinet position in 1992, Richardson passed the detailed scrutiny.

"I ended up 100 percent convinced that Bill Richardson was not a womanizer, had not had an affair, had not done anything that had embarrassed him," he said.

Richardson subsequently was appointed to high-level jobs in government, including energy secretary, and weathered two races for governor without his relations with women becoming an obstacle. Richardson's resume made him an eminently plausible contender when Kerry began looking for a running mate.

On July 15, 2004, a Washington reporter for the Albuquerque Journal reported receiving an "interesting -- and unsolicited -- phone call" from the ordinarily press-shy Johnson, who sang Richardson's praises.

"Johnson said the Kerry search team pored over everything they could find about their prospective choices, including Richardson. They looked at speeches the contenders had given, articles and books they had written, academic and public policy groups they were affiliated with, financial and medical records and 'personal issues,'" the Journal reported.

"We looked very comprehensively at all of the information available to us," Johnson said at the time.

Another Kerry aide, however, said it was inappropriate to use the vetting as a credential. "We never gave anyone a clean bill of health, or not."

Richardson chalks the rumors up to his campaign style.

"There's nothing I can do except just basically continue," he said. "I've never touched anybody inappropriately. No one's accused me of it. I shake hands a lot. I hold a handshaking record. I believe in the physical side of campaigning. I guess I hug people sometimes. That's me. That's my character."