Bill Richardson Appears To Be Out of the Running for '08

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's chances of winning the 2008 Democratic nomination for president appear to be evaporating:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is coming clean on his draft record. The baseball draft, that is.

For nearly four decades, Richardson, a prominent Democrat frequently mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, has maintained he was drafted as a pitcher in 1966 by the Kansas City Athletics.

But an Albuquerque Journal investigation found no record of Richardson being drafted by the A's, who have since moved to Oakland, or any other team. Informed by the newspaper of its findings, the governor acknowledged the error in a story published Thursday by the paper.

"After being notified of the situation (by Journal reporter Toby Smith) and after researching the matter ... I came to the conclusion that I was not drafted by the A's," Richardson said.

This probably ends Richardson's chance for the presidency. Sure, what he did was pretty minimal -- I mean, it is not like he lied the country into war -- but the G.O.P. will push this in a big way and blow it all out of proportion. That's what they do. Republicans may be incompetent when it comes to minor things like running the country or running a foreign policy, but they are experts at attacking political opponents.

Remember -- the G.O.P. successfully attacked Al Gore on the whole "inventing the internet" deal by lying about what Gore actually said on the subject and then convincing the country that their lie was "the truth." But they won't have to lie about Richardson's false baseball claim.