Bill Richardson 2008 presidential campaign Bill Richardson 2008 presidential campaign The 2008 presidential campaign of Bill Richardson, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced his candidacy on January 21, 2007, for President of the United States on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, by virtue of forming a presidential exploratory committee. Richardson, who is of Hispanic descent, joined a diverse field for the Democratic nomination, which already included an African American in Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and a female in Senator Hillary Clinton of New York and became the first individual of Hispanic descent to mount a nationwide campaign for president. He withdrew from the
African-American candidates for President of the United States million. In 1992 Alan Keyes was the first African-American candidate to run in the Republican presidential primaries. Keyes participated again, unsuccessfully, in 1996, 2000, and 2008. In 2004, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton were unsuccessful candidates in the Democratic primaries. "Tea Party" Republican Herman Cain staged a run for the presidency in 2012, and received a brief surge of attention and popularity, but withdrew before any primaries were held. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson ran for the Republican nomination in the 2016 election and surged in the polls for a time in late 2015, but withdrew after the first Super Tuesday.