Bill Richardson tells a lot of jokes on the campaign trail. One of his favorites goes something like this: "I don't know what it is," he'll say, "but, for some reason, bad people like me."

The line gets a few chuckles and usually launches a review of Richardson's diplomatic credentials. But it's also true. He's been to North Korea a half dozen times and keeps getting invited back. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez once called him an American he could "really work with." Sudanese rebel leaders respect him, although they don't always listen to him. Even Saddam Hussein cracked a smile when Richardson visited his palace.

During the 1990s, Richardson developed a reputation as a global troubleshooter, a laid-back congressman and, later, United Nations ambassador willing to travel pretty much anywhere and talk to almost anyone. He's visited some of the most hostile corners of the planet, venturing into nations where Americans are seldom welcome: Afghanistan, Cuba, Iraq and the Sudan. Sometimes, Richardson was an emissary of President Clinton with orders to convey a message or feel out a situation. More often, he went in at the request of relatives of hostages or political prisoners.

"The Clinton administration wanted to use us: myself, Jesse Jackson, Jimmy Carter," Richardson said in an interview with the Monitor last week. "They didn't want the footprints of the government in the negotiations. They wanted some deniability. There was a basic agreement that I would get help from them, I would consult them, but if the mission failed, it would be my own doing."

On the campaign trail, Richardson talks often about his international adventures, and some of the people he's helped have lent their support to his political ambitions. Two American contractors captured in Iraq in 1995 appeared in campaign ads this fall. Last month, John Early, a former Red Cross pilot, told voters in Manchester how he met Richardson in the middle of the Sudanese ammunition dump serving as his prison.

"In strolls Richardson with a pair of gray flannel trousers on and his lucky blue blazer, all smiles, shaking hands with all the people holding us hostage," Early said. "It was like a town hall meeting. I couldn't believe it. He had no security people, no kind of an official-looking group with him. He just showed up, walked up to me and said, 'Hi, I'm Bill Richardson.' "

A few hours later, Early was free.

It's no surprise Richardson, 60, is comfortable in almost any country or environment. He was born in California but grew up in Mexico City. While attending boarding school and college in Massachusetts, he learned how to operate in a culture he didn't yet completely understand. He's also helped by his academic credentials and early professional resume: a master's degree from Tuft's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a stint as a State Department aide. As a young congressman, Richardson served on the Select Committee on Intelligence, traveling to a host of countries on fact-finding missions.

As a congressman, Richardson also discovered a penchant for mediating among warring factions. On weekends, he'd return to New Mexico and host town meetings where people from many different ethnic backgrounds and interest groups would gather. Richardson, along with other government officials, would help them work out their differences.

"I liked the idea of troubleshooting," he said. "Trying to not just resolve problems but set up a framework for negotiations later."

Although his political profile would heighten year after year, Richardson never lost his back-thumping, joke-cracking, rumpled-blazer-wearing persona. In his book Between Worlds he lists a few times it has gotten him in trouble (grabbing Saddam Hussein's arm, for instance, turned out to be a bad idea) but for the most part, it's what has made him a successful, if unorthodox, diplomat.

That hasn't, however translated into a runaway presidential campaign. Even in a race where foreign policy matters, he's having a hard time translating experience into votes.

"He's clearly a very good negotiator," said Peter Beinart, the senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "But I think as far as foreign policy plays out in an election, it's about your ability to convey a message, and I don't think he's very good at that. Being a great negotiator and being able to get up there and talk to people about foreign policy in a way that's compelling are two very different skills."

In the middle

Richardson's role as global troubleshooter began by accident, when he found himself in the middle of a international incident. In December 1994, an American helicopter was shot down a few miles inside North Korean airspace. The two men on board, chief warrant officers Bobby Hall and David Hilemon, were taken prisoner.

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