Riding tide, 1st Democrat declares presidential bid

Wasting little time after the Democratdominated elections of 2006, Tom Vilsack, Iowa’s Democratic governor, opened his campaign for the 2008 presidential nomination Thursday, asserting that voters “want leaders who will take this country in a new direction.”

In a field likely to be dominated by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York -- and possibly drawing in Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois -- Vilsack starts his campaign with little recognition nationally and even some evidence in polls that voters in his home state don’t support a White House bid.

Yet Iowa also hosts the first presidential-nominating caucuses, which could complicate the impact that Iowa’s caucuses have on the nomination.

This week’s elections have set the stage for the ’08 campaign, Vilsack said with a campaign announcement in his hometown of Mount Pleasant.

People “want leaders who share their values, understand their needs, and respect their intelligence,” Vilsack said. “That’s what I’ve done as governor of Iowa, and that’s what I intend to do as president.”

Vilsack, a centrist who is leaving office in January after two terms, is the first Democrat to formally announce a 2008 presidential bid.

(Democrat Chet Culver was easily elected this week to succeed Vilsack, who did not seek reelection.)

With Democrats gaining six governor’s offices this week for a total of 28 nationally, some political observers say a chief executive of a heartland state is a strong model for a presidential nominee. Vilsack is chairman of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council and a former chairman of the Democratic Governors Assn.

Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico -- whose Latino heritage could be expected to appeal to many Latino voters across the nation -- said Thursday that he would announce in January whether he would run for president.

“Remember, with all these senators running around, the last time a senator was elected president was JFK,” said Dennis Goldford, professor of political science at Drake University in Des Moines. “Governors are on a run lately.”

The problem for a candidate such as Vilsack, Goldford said, is “navigating the shoals” of a contest with well-financed and better-known individuals like Clinton.

“Is he a rock star? No,” Goldford said. Clinton “is a rock star. She makes Democratic hearts beat strongly here.... But the problem is, if she gets the nomination, she starts 170 electoral votes in the hole, because she loses the South.”

Concern about Clinton’s prospects in a general election could turn many Democrats toward a candidate without the burden of predetermined opposition.

At a breakfast with Washington reporters, Gov. Richardson said: “Voters are looking at governors, I believe, to solve their problems. Obviously, Sen. Clinton is a formidable candidate. But I think it should be wide open....

“I hope Obama gets in. I hope Sen. [John] Kerry gets in. There should be a debate about the heart and soul of the party.”

That debate will play out in a hugely competitive campaign for an open White House. Republicans are likely to see their own big names -- such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona -- vying with such lesser-knowns as Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, who announced last week that he would run.