Speaking at a meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday, former Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson expressed optimism that the next president will be able to accomplish comprehensive immigration reform.

“If the next president says in the first 100 days, here are my three top issues, and immigration is one of them–I think the other two should be ending the war and a sensible energy policy, then it can get done,” he said.

Richardson, who has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), said the next president will likely have enough sympathetic lawmakers to pass such a bill, but noted any effective legislation will have to be bipartisan. Richardson praised the Kennedy-McCain immigration reform bill shelved in 2007, saying that piece of legislation represented the “best legal immigration position.”

Another Obama supporter, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), spoke at CFR June 9. Webb said the United States needs “the type of national leadership” that can bring about a “complete withdrawal of American combat forces from Iraq.”