The nice guy, try-to-please-everyone Richards has boxed himself into a corner with the labor unions that might have supported him in the governor's race. Some of them are ticked off about three bills that have Richards' fingerprints on them: The mine safety bill, the "Boni Bill" and the minimum wage bill. All three have been gutted or watered down during their tour in the house. The original versions of all three were backed by unions. And the unions are blaming Richards. In his zeal to make folks happy, Richards has had trouble saying "no" to anyone, according to house members. That includes coal companies, Rep. Harry Moberly (who doesn't want to open up the budget for projects and programs) and restaurants who don't want the minimum wage to apply to their staff members who get tips. Richards still has two weeks left in the session to redeem himself with union leaders.

Richards has finally hired a campaign manager. It's Travis Lowe, who's from Iowa and worked on Dick Gephardt's last presidential campaign. Richards has not hired a spokesman and doesn't have a campaign web page set up, best I can tell.