On the December 14 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, in what host Wolf Blitzer called “a 2008 road-to-the-White-House edition,” Blitzer did not report Gov. Bill Richardson's (D-NM) international diplomacy credentials, characterizing a scheduled December 15 meeting with Richardson and North Korean officials to discuss dismantling that country's nuclear program as Richardson “working on his foreign policy credentials.” In fact, contrary to Blitzer's suggestion that the meeting constitutes an effort on Richardson's part to build his credentials, Richardson is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has, in the words of The Washington Post, “bargained for the release of captives” in several countries, including North Korea, and has negotiated with North Korea on nuclear issues. After Blitzer's report, viewers unfamiliar with Richardson's background could reasonably have been left wondering why the governor of New Mexico would be engaging in international diplomacy.

From the December 14 edition of CNN's The Situation Room at 4 p.m. ET:

BLITZER: Coming up, we'll check our “Political Radar.” It's a 2008 road-to-the-White-House edition. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson working on his foreign policy credentials. And Iowa voters seem to have a thing, that is, for the former senator, John Edwards. We'll tell you what's going on.

And on the Republican side, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney takes another crack at his position on gay marriage.

Stay tuned. You're in The Situation Room.

[...]

BLITZER: On our “Political Radar” this Thursday: New Mexico governor and possible presidential contender Bill Richardson adding another line to his diplomatic credentials. The Democrat plans to meet tomorrow in Santa Fe with two North Korean envoys -- his ambitious goal, to persuade North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons.

What does Richardson plan for an encore? He is scheduled to meet with Democrats in New Hampshire this weekend.

A 1996 Washington Post article reported that Richardson “was on a one-day visit to Pyongyang in December 1994 to discuss a nuclear disarmament agreement when a U.S. Army helicopter was shot down over North Korea, killing one crewman. He negotiated the pilot's release.” In 1996, Richardson “sprang an American from North Korea after the young man -- drunk and naked -- swam across a river into the country and was arrested as a spy.”

The article also noted that Richardson has “bargained for the release of captives in Iraq, Bangladesh, Burma and Cuba.”

Richardson was named U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and later secretary of energy. During his tenure at the Department of Energy, that agency expanded its non-proliferation efforts to include the National Nuclear Safety Administration, created to “promote international nuclear safety and nonproliferation” and “reduce global danger from weapons of mass destruction,” among other things.

Following his service as energy secretary, Richardson had further negotiations with the North Koreans, including a visit to the country in October 2005 to discuss nuclear disarmament at the behest of the Bush administration and a meeting in New Mexico with two North Korean diplomats in January 2003 in the wake of North Korea's withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Blitzer mentioned none of this while reporting on the upcoming meeting, hinting at Richardson's prior experience only in his statement that “Richardson [will be] adding another line to his diplomatic credentials.”