By BARRY MASSEY
The Associated Press
Friday, May 25, 2007; 8:53 PM
SANTA FE, N.M. -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the only Hispanic in the Democratic presidential race, has changed his view of immigration legislation, saying Friday he opposes it unless significant changes are made.
The governor said earlier this week that he had misgivings about certain provisions in the bill, but told The Associated Press that he would vote for it if he were in Congress and would try to improve it.
Richardson said he changed his mind after reading the entire legislation.
"I read that they added more funding for the fence. I am against the fence. I've always been against it. I didn't realize the fence construction was in there," Richardson said at a news conference. "It's a terrible symbol."
The Senate bill provided for 370 miles of fencing along the U.S. border with Mexico.
Richardson said he backed another border security provision in the bill that would increase the number of Border Patrol agents.
Richardson said he also opposed the bill because it "separates families."
"In other words, it gives priority to job skills rather than family unification. Historically, our immigration policies have emphasized family unification and this bill doesn't," he said.
The legislation would give a priority to allocating some work visas to future immigrants with job skills or educational backgrounds that are in demand _ a shift away from a traditional consideration of whether an immigrant has family living in the United States.
Richardson said immigrants who came temporarily to the U.S. under a proposed guest worker program would not have adequate labor protections, and he objected that there was no guarantee they could eventually gain citizenship.
The governor backs a core provision of the legislation that provides a path to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants who already live in the country.
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FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) _ Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards on Friday unveiled a new policy to support veterans, service members and military families, a popular move for many presidential candidates leading into the Memorial Day weekend.
The recent scandal over substandard treatment at the Walter Reed military hospital is only a small fraction of problems facing U.S. troops, the former North Carolina senator said as he began a weekend trip through southeastern Iowa.
Extended tours of duty are putting pressure on military families, troops are being sent to war underequipped, and the GI bill is failing to adequately provide education to returning soldiers, Edwards told about 100 people gathered in a hotel conference room.
If elected, "I will do everything to support our troops that is not being done today," he said.
Edwards' plan, which he called a "sacred contract," includes:
_Fully funding veterans' health care.
_Providing a plan for coming home, including screening for post-traumatic stress disorder.
_Enacting a new Total Force GI bill, giving Guard and Reserve members benefits proportionate to the service they perform. It would expand benefits for college or technical school tuition and fees for service members coming off of active duty.
_Creating a Military Families Advisory Board to allow families a voice at the U.S. Department of Defense.
_Closing the gap between military and civilian pay.
Edwards drew criticism from a leader of the American Legion last week when he called for voters to speak out against the Iraq war on Memorial Day weekend.
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WASHINGTON (AP) _ Rival biographies of Hillary Rodham Clinton are racing to the bookshelves with portrayals of the Democratic presidential candidate as a woman of single-minded drive, dogged by her husband's infidelities.
Revisiting Bill Clinton's marital misbehavior, Carl Bernstein asserts in "A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton" that she threatened to run for Arkansas governor as payback for her husband's dalliances and refused a divorce when he raised the subject in 1989.
"Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton," by longtime New York Times investigative reporters Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr., explores her Senate career in depth as well as her past. The Washington Post obtained prerelease copies of both books and reported on their contents Friday.
The Clinton campaign dismissed the books as a "20-year-old rehash" of issues surrounding the couple. "The news here is that it took three reporters nearly a decade to find no news," said campaign spokesman Phil Singer.
"Her Way" depicts the New York senator as a hard-driving politician fixated on secrecy, loyalty and her policy goals.
Yet the book says she voted for the Iraq war without reading the National Intelligence Estimate that contained doubts about the weapons of mass destruction that Iraq was said to have possessed, The Post said.
Philippe Reines, Clinton's Senate press secretary, said she "was briefed multiple times by several members of the administration on their intelligence regarding Iraq, which included the classified aspects of the NIE."
Publication of the biographies has shifted ahead several times in a contest for marketplace advantage and with the campaign for the Democratic nomination in full motion.
Little, Brown and Co. initially planned "Her Way" for release in August but moved it to June 19, original date of Bernstein's book. Then both were moved to early June. Alfred A. Knopf is releasing "A Woman in Charge" on June 5, three days ahead of "Her Way."
The Times is excerpting "Her Way" June 3, the day of the next Democratic debate.
The Post says that Bernstein, who teamed with Bob Woodward in the paper's famed Watergate coverage, traces efforts by husband and wife to keep a lid on Bill Clinton's encounters with other women.
Bernstein said Mrs. Clinton considered running for governor as a show of anger at her husband in 1990, when her husband would have been preparing to step down from the post to run for president.
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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ North Dakota will join at least a dozen other states holding presidential primaries and caucuses on Feb. 5 in what is shaping up to be a national primary.
Secretary of State Al Jaeger picked Feb. 5 as the date for North Dakota's presidential caucuses next year with encouragement from state Republicans, but over the objections of Democrats who preferred Feb. 12.
Jaeger said Friday that Feb. 5 was the best choice even though a half dozen or more other states are considering moving their presidential contest up to that date as well.
"Although the field is crowded that day, I believe the candidates will not overlook any state with a primary/caucus on or before that day if their goal is to be the clear front-runner on Feb. 6," he said in a statement.
Jaeger said state law does not allow him to select separate caucus dates for each party.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Rep. Marsha Blackburn on Friday swung her support from the Republican presidential campaign of Mitt Romney to the as-yet unannounced White House bid of actor-politician Fred Thompson.
Blackburn, who served as a senior adviser to the Romney campaign and as national co-chairwoman of Women for Romney, cited her long association with Thompson, a former Tennessee senator, as the reason for supporting him.
Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said Blackburn had called the campaign before announcing her support of Thompson.
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Associated Press Writers Blake Nicholson in Bismark, N.D., Erik Schelzig in Nashville, Tenn., Calvin Woodward in Washington and Amy Lorentzen in Fort Madison, Iowa contributed to this report.