I realize I’m the wrong guy to make this observation, but Richardson would be well-served by losing, oh, five to ten pounds. Not a lot, but just a bit, to remove the jowls from his face.

Richardson’s got less energy than Edwards. It’s a lot of similar lines “this administration wants to privatize student loans, cut student loans, and give tax cuts to companies that want to export our jobs…” but if the lyrics are similar, the rhythm isn’t as catchy; the cadence sounds much more like the standard-issue politician drone.

In New Mexico, we’ve added 80,000 jobs in four years, we gave tax incentives to businesses to create jobs with wages over the prevailing wage.

Going on about how he’s regulated contractors, he says, “Break the law, and you’ll spend time in jail. 100 percent union-built jail.” Gets some chuckles.

“I got a 90 percent rating from the AFL-CIO, and I don’t know where you guys went wrong on that last ten percent.”

Richardson mentions that he was endorsed by the NRA. Then he segues to standard-issue rhetoric on the importance of the labor union turnout in Democratic election victories.

“You’re going to hear from a lot of Democratic candidates. I want you to know every one of them is qualified… to be my Vice President.”

There’s a lot of semi-goofy lines in Richardson’s speech. When listing the presidents of the unions, he goes (not the real names) “President Smith, President Jones… (smiles) President Richardson.”

“The President says he won’t talk to countries that engage in bad behavior. Pretty soon he’ll only be talking to the Vatican.”

“When I am President, my Secretary of Labor will be a union member.”

Look, I can’t prove it, I can’t point to any one statement or action that points me to this conclusion, but I just get the feeling that Richardson would be perfectly happy to be someone else’s running mate.