Opinion: Richardson launches grass-roots Latino group

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At a news conference in Las Vegas in a few minutes Gov. Bill Richardson will announce a new community-based political action group designed to mobilize Latinos around his Democratic candidacy.

The group, Mi Familia con Bill Richardson, is designed as a nationwide family-to-family grass-roots mobilization effort to recruit families to participate in the campaign of Richardson, himself a Latino. Each family will promise to do at least five activities for the campaign, including such things as distributing campaign literature in neighborhoods, speaking about the governor at community meetings, hosting debate watch parties and recruiting other families to form their own chapters.

The focus is on the early states and those voting Feb. 5, but the plan is to expand the program nationally.

‘My campaign is about talking to people face to face,’ Richardson said in a news release. ‘I am proud to be the first candidate to reach out to Latinos on a grass-roots level.’

At the Las Vegas news conference Richardson will present the charter Mi Familia membership to Xavier Rivas, a former businessman and current local radio talk show host.

--Andrew Malcolm