Now, if he can just convince his mother . . .

Posted by Christi Parsons at 6:30 a.m. CST

Washington, D.C.--One day a few weeks ago, Gov. Bill Richardson called his elderly mother on the telephone in Mexico City to tell her he was running for president.

“El presidente de que?” she asked, confused. “President of what?”

With that familial perspective on his bid for the White House in 2008, Richardson told a group of fellow Hispanic leaders on Thursday, there’s no direction for him to go but up.

Besides, he said, “A lot can happen in ten months. You never know what will happen.”

Audience members at a meeting of Hispanic leaders in Congress, diplomatic circles and around the East Coast didn’t appear to need much of a sales job from Richardson, the Democratic governor of New Mexico and a former U.N. ambassador.

Several said they consider it a victory simply that Richardson - whose mother is Mexican and who spent his childhood in Mexico -- is a bona fide contender for the Democratic nomination.

But Richardson says he’s not aiming for a symbolic victory.

“I believe that we’re going to have a strong showing in the early primaries,” he said. “Our fundraising’s picking up and we’re starting to catch on. We’ve moved up into a solid fourth.”

It’s a late start, of course, even though the first party primaries are almost a full year away. The three leading candidates for the Democratic nomination have been at work for weeks and months, and Richardson acknowledges he is way behind in fundraising compared to Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former senator John Edwards of North Carolina.

A recent poll by Zogby International showed Richardson in fourth place among the Democrats with 5 percent of respondents supporting him. Clinton had 33 percent, Obama 25 percent and Edwards 12 percent.

And he is only making his first foray into the early-caucus state of Iowa this coming weekend.

But Richardson is making a strong play for support among Latinos, a key portion of the Democratic base that could make him a heavyweight player in presidential politics.

Supporters say they can envision scenarios in which Richardson emerges as an experienced, reliable alternative to the candidates now considered top-tier.

In 1991, said one friend, “Bill Clinton and his mother were the only two people who thought he could be elected.”

“Gov. Richardson certainly is the underdog, but he’s our underdog,” said Mickey Ibarra, chairman of the Latino Leaders Network, the non-profit group that hosted the Thursday luncheon at which Richardson was the featured speaker.

“Latinos are used to being underestimated,” he said. “That’s a common experience. We’re very comfortable overcoming obstacles to achieve success. We do that every day. And this is going to be a long campaign.”

Other Hispanic leaders say they see it as a win that Richardson is a legitimate candidate, appearing in candidate forums and drawing both crowds and mainstream media coverage on the campaign trail.

“It’s good for the country and for both parties to see this kind of diversity and talent at the forefront,” said Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy organization. “And there’s a real hunger in the Hispanic community to see someone out there running, in the mainstream, for president. He will rally a large part of the community.”

Even elected Hispanic officials who are supporting other candidates are trying to help Richardson get his footing.

Adolfo Carrion, Jr., president of the borough of the Bronx, said he is supporting Clinton, his fellow New Yorker. Still, he sang Richardson’s praises when he gets the chance - as when he introduced him at the Thursday luncheon.

“He’s going to add a lot to the conversation about who we are as Americans and what our priorities are,” said Carrion. “We’re a country of immigrants from our founding to now and into the future, and the questions that people have in their minds are, ‘Can my kids get a good education?’ ‘Is there going to be a better life for our family economically? Are we going to be safe here and around the world?’ That’s what people care about and that’s what he represents.”

Sen. Clinton is a “friend, a New York senator and an outstanding leader.”

But, he added, “We have a long way to go between now and the primary.”

Richardson thinks time is on his side.

“I feel it in my bones as I go around the country,” he said. “The American people have not made up their minds about the nominee on the Democratic side.”

Now, if he can just convince his mother.