If Democrat Bill Richardson is elected president, he will have a busy first six days in office.

Richardson told a crowd of about 80 people in Smokey Row Friday afternoon his plans for the top six priorities of his first days in office. Richardson stopped in Oskaloosa as part of a campaign swing through the state before the Democratic debate in Des Moines Sunday.

“I represent change and I have the most experience,” Richardson said. He said the country needs a candidate with a proven record on foreign policy and who has managerial experience as a governor of a state.

Richardson said on his first day in office, he would get all U.S. troops out of Iraq.

“No residual forces,” he said. He said it would take about six to eight months to achieve a full withdrawal.

He discounted that a full withdrawal would leave open the possibility of an Iraqi civil war.

“There is a civil war already,” Richardson said. He also said an Iraqi opinion poll recently revealed that 62 percent of Iraqis believe it’s OK to shoot at American soldiers.

Richardson advocated withdrawal and diplomacy in the region. Richardson said that as UN ambassador, he has dealt with the major powers in the region.

On Day 2, Richardson said he would revitalize American education.

He wants to emphasize teachers as important to building a new society. Richardson wants to mandate a federal minimum wage for teachers at $40,000 a year.

Richardson also wants to get rid of the No Child Left Behind Act. Also, he wants to emphasize math and science education. He’d also like to establish a federal Arts in the School program. He would like to have preschool in every community and full-day kindergarten.

For college students, Richardson wants to establish a program where students can do one year of national service to pay off student loans.

For the third day, Richardson would deal with national health care.

“We need universal health care,” he said. “It’s a human right.”

Richardson would like to give people access to the Congressional health care plan. He’d also like to lower Medicare eligibility to 55 years old.