A while back I half jokingly wondered aloud why Bill Richardson continued to build support despite making a string of gaffes and missteps on the campaign trail.

The answer, articulated here by Matt Yglesias, is that it is Richardson position to remove all troops from Iraq - including residual forces - that is drawing Democratic primary voters his way. Yglesias wrote:

The Clinton/Obama/Edwards troika have all, though to various extents, softened their backing for the residuum over the past couple of months, but they could still all go further in this direction -- to where Richardson is, for example -- and at a minimum I hope Richardson keeps gaining support until one of them does. It's obvious that the first instinct of the three other candidates' political consultants was that Democratic primary voters don't really care about the war and can be easily bought off with some Bush-bashing applause lines and misleading rhetoric.

Richardson understands this, which is why he's trying to sharpen the distinctions between himself and the top-tier troika on Iraq with the launch of a new web site (GetOurTroopsOut.com) featuring this four and a half minute video which, not coincidentally, features testimonials by three prominent left-wing bloggers:

For all the mistakes Richardson has made on the trail, he's done two things well in the Democratic primary: 1) position himself to the left of the leaders on Iraq, 2) use video - specifically television - to support his campaign with a series of sharp, engaging ads. This time he's done a deft job of combining the two to continue to pressure the front runners on Iraq and leverage the anti-war sentiment of the base in his favor.

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