Iowa for Richardson: In The News
Press Clips

• Richardson promises pay raises for teachers: New Mexico governor says he is the 'real education candidate'
  
• Richardson: Restoring America starts with ending war
  
• Richardson 'not interested' in pursuing vice presidency
  
• Candidates keep campaigning Newton
  
• Forget barbs, focus on vision, Richardson tells Democrats
  
• Richardson believes he has momentum
  
• Richardson: My Cabinet won't exclude Republicans
  
• Presidential Profile: Richardson has big resume, common touch
  
• Richardson rolls out $15B veterans care plan
  DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson rolled out a $15.5 billion plan for military veterans on Friday that included cutting their income taxes, giving them a health care card to access private care and expanding education benefits.
  
  The New Mexico governor would pay for the plan by collecting certain capital gains taxes, which he said would pull in $25 billion a year.
  
  He said conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington represent the Bush administration's "terrible mistreatment of America's veterans."
  
  "President Bush has treated our nation's heroes with a shocking lack of concern," Richardson said in a statement released prior to his speech.
  
  In February, reports surfaced of shoddy outpatient treatment, poor living conditions and bureaucratic delays at Walter Reed.
  
  Soon afterward, Bush set up a presidential commission chaired by former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole and Donna Shalala, former Health and Human Services secretary during the Clinton administration.
  
  The panel urged broad changes to veterans' care that would boost benefits to family members caring for the wounded, establish an easy-to-use Web site for medical records and overhaul the way disability pay is awarded. It also recommended stronger partnerships between the Pentagon and the private sector to boost treatment for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
  
  "Not every wound can be treated with bandages," Richardson said during his speech. "We have to have a national strategy and we don't. We need to make mental health care a priority for veterans."
  
  Richardson said his plan would implement the recommendations of the Dole-Shalala Commission, which he estimated would cost $100 million.
  
  Richardson began his "Keeping Our Promise" tour in Davenport. His campaign planned 29 stops in 23 Iowa towns over four days to roll out the plan, which included eliminating federal income tax for all veterans in their first year as civilians, a $2.2 billion cost. It also would reduce federal income taxes for all veterans by 5 percent for life at a cost of $6.1 billion annually.
  
  Other plan benefits would include:
  
  -- A health care card entitling veterans to their choice of care when they cannot conveniently access Veterans Affairs Department care.
  
  -- Full mandatory funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  
  -- One year of comprehensive disability insurance for family members who must leave work to care for a critically wounded soldier.
  
  -- Enactment of the Defenders of Freedom Tax Relief Act, which would offer tax credits to help offset lower pay members of the National Guard or Reserves might receive while they're on active duty.
  
  -- Expanding education benefits by as much as $24,000 through a loan forgiveness program.
  
  Sam Vasquez, 81, a World War II veteran from Davenport, said he was pleased that Richardson turned his campaign to veterans issues.
  
  "I was happy to see that he's committed to the veterans, their good health and whether they need medical care," said Vasquez, who said he was drafted at age 18.
  
  He said he supports Richardson's plan to get troops out of Iraq because that nation's leaders must resolve their problems.
  
  "From 1941 to 1945...we were able to mobilize, equip, supply, send across two oceans and defeat two major countries in four years," he said. "What are we waiting on them for? They can't even go over the street corner and take care of their own country yet."
  
  Richardson was joined by New Mexico Secretary of Veterans Services John Garcia, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, and Lou Helwig, director of field operations for the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services. Helwig spent 12 years in the Air Force.
  
  Retired Army Brig. General John Johns, a combat arms officer for more than 26 years, was also campaigning for Richardson.
  
  Congressional Medal of Honor winner Hiroshi Miyamura, an auto mechanic and gas station owner who was wounded in 1951 and held as a prisoner of war for 27 months by the Chinese, also was making campaign stops as part of the rollout of Richardson's veterans plan.
  
  In an interview, Richardson said hopes to finish at least third in Iowa but will continue his campaign whatever happens because he believes he's competitive in New Hampshire and Nevada.
  
  He also repeated his call for Democratic candidates to refrain from attacks on each other because it could hurt the eventual nominee in the general election.
  
  "I'm not going to run a negative campaign and attack anybody personally on their character," he said. "I think other candidates are doing that and it should not happen."
  
• Richardson presents Purple Heart
  
• Bill Richardson makes stop in Ottumwa
  

  OTTUMWA — Bill Richardson put his sense of humor on display Wednesday for Ottumwa voters.

   

  It’s not a surprise given Richardson’s presidential campaign, which has run offbeat commercials that show him as a candidate for a job interview. He gently mocked his difficulties with Iowa’s sometimes tongue-twisting place names.

   

  “I’ll do whatever you want, you’re the first primary. By the way, yesterday I withdrew from the primary in Michigan,” Richardson said during a visit to the UAW Local 74 Hall in Ottumwa. “I’ve been to 78 counties; you’ve got 99, so I’m now doing repeat business. I know how you Iowans are. You want to see your candidates seven times. I’m glad there are three months left.”

   

  The New Mexico governor turned serious when he shifted the focus to Iraq. He said it is time to withdraw American forces from Iraq in favor of a regional solution. That requires bringing in other countries in the Mideast, including Iran and Syria. They have an interest in keeping Iraq from dissolving into complete chaos.

   

  “Nobody wants Iraq to blow up, to have an implosion,” he said.

   

  Talking with Iran and Syria does not mean coddling them, Richardson said. He wants to begin working to establish ties with Iranian students, a group in which hard-liners have weak support. Contacts with higher level of the Iranian government must come later, after initial talks have shown progress. Any negotiation with the Iranian president must come in the latter stages, he said.

   

  Richardson said the United States has leverage with Iran, but needs international support to make pressure work. He quoted former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin, saying you have no need to make peace with your friends.

   

  “I wouldn’t talk to [Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] first, because I think tha