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Whenever you mention the name of Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico who is running for president, you get a blank look or else this reply: "I don't know much about him."

That's because Richardson isn't a headliner, unlike Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the Democratic front-runners who suck up most of the media's oxygen. Richardson is lucky if he gets a few seconds of prime broadcast time and eight inches of news type.

Another reason you don't hear much about him is because Richardson lacks gushers of campaign dollars. In our money-driven campaign culture, it takes bushels of bucks for a candidate to buy air time, open campaign offices, charter planes and pay campaign staffs. Without an elaborate campaign apparatus, Richardson must run a grass-roots campaign.

Richardson's third problem, according to some analysts, is that he doesn't look like a president. He is paunchy, jowly and occasionally rumpled. He also looks Hispanic, which is not surprising because he's the son of a Mexican mother and an American father.

Born in California, he was educated in New England where he attended prep school and graduated from Tufts University. He and his wife have been married 35 years and have no children. He is described as a boisterous personality, a touchy-feely man who cracks funny jokes. (No Al Gore is he.)

But why should voters learn more about him? Because Richardson is the most experienced candidate running from either party. And according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, voters place high value on experience. (This column, by the way, is not an endorsement but a let's-get-to-know-the-candidate.)

Richardson, 59, served 14 years as a U.S. congressman, was appointed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations by President Clinton and then became Clinton's secretary of energy. He is a two-term governor of New Mexico, where he won re-election in a landslide last November with 69 percent of the vote in a "red state."

As governor, he helped raise teachers salaries, created new jobs, cut taxes to spur economic growth, and beefed up patrols along the Mexican border. He recently signed a bill legalizing marijuana for medical usage. Warned that the bill could hurt him politically, he replied that "it is the right thing to do."

His experience in foreign affairs exceeds all candidates. Besides being U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, he is an international trouble-shooter. He has met with Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein to negotiate the release of American citizens held hostage. Last year he went to the Sudan and helped get a National Geographic journalist released from prison. He has also conducted negotiations with the North Korean regime in the Clinton era.

No other candidate in either party comes close to matching his experience in domestic and foreign affairs. Among Democratic front-runners, Clinton is serving her second term in the Senate and Obama, who did a short stint as state legislator, is serving his first term in the Senate.

Ending the Iraq war is the key plank in Richardson's platform. Though most Democratic candidates favor ending the conflict, they do so over a long haul. Richardson calls for pulling troops out in six months. Period. "Our presence there enables the Iraqi factions to delay making the hard political choices necessary to end the civil war." For more information about his position on health care, energy, etc., check his Web site: http://www.richardsonforpresident.com.

Some say Richardson is actually running for vice president. He insists he's a serious presidential candidate. A few analysts, noting the election is a year away, predict he could even be the dark horse. Whatever the case, his experience in government, his Hispanic background, his proven ability as a vote-getter, his appeal to both Democrats and independents, his plan for withdrawal from an unpopular war -- these traits make him a candidate who should be noticed.

Rosemary Roberts writes a Friday column. E-mail: rmroberts@triad.rr.com.