Bill Richardson, we hardly knew ye...

An AP story on the withdrawal of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson from the race for the White House highlighted his impressive credentials. Between he, Dodd, and Biden, the Democratic race for President has lost nearly a century of public service experience among its candidates.

From the AP article:

Richardson had one of the most wide-ranging resumes of any candidate ever to run for the presidency, bringing experience from his time in Congress, President Clinton's Cabinet, in the New Mexico Statehouse as well as his unique role as a freelance diplomat. As a Hispanic, he added to the unprecedented diversity in the Democratic field that also included a black man and a woman.

Richardson was born 60 years ago in Pasadena, Calif., after his American father sent his Mexican mother there to give birth and erase any doubts that his son would be a U.S. citizen. His father was an international banker from Boston, and Richardson spent his childhood in Mexico City before being sent to boarding school in Massachusetts, where he was a standout baseball player.

After graduating from Tufts University in 1971 with a master's degree in international affairs, Richardson worked first as a congressional aide and then for the State Department. He was a staffer for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when he decided to leave Washington in 1978 to launch a political career.

Richardson settled in New Mexico partly because of the state's large Hispanic population, and he won election to the House. Richardson is a master negotiator, and put his diplomatic skills to work to rescue Americans held hostage abroad. He earned a reputation for a mix of patience, toughness and cultural sensitivity that served him well on mercy missions from North Korea to Cuba to Sudan.

President Clinton recruited Richardson to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, then secretary of Energy two years later.