underdog

Did anyone else think of the cartoon underdog when Bill Richardson announced he was the underdog in the race? It's kind of interesting to hear him say that, given that in state he's always the big cheese. It's smart, in a way, as some voters (ahem) tend to like an underdog, like someone who says, "hey, I don't have the money these other folks have." Plus, everyone loves a cartoon. Now, if he had declared himself "The Cartman in this race" he'd have locked up the youth vote in a second.
But, seriously, after ragging on the governor's speechmaking, I will say that Richardson's announcement speech is one of the better things I've heard him do. He's clearly been getting coached on the speaking thing, although here and there you can hear the unnatural cadence of someone who's been coached on how to deliver a speech. But I thought overall it was delivered well, his smiling looked relatively natural and he made some good points. I think if he can continue to further elaborate on his experiences in the middle east, with some detail, that will help him.
However, I'm pretty sure his line at the end, "these serious times demand serious people" was directly lifted from Michael Douglas' speech at the end of The American President.