Bill Richardson Endorses Obama

The governor of New Mexico and former presidential candidate, Bill Richardson, formally endorsed Barack Obama today in Portland, Oregon. His endorsement means a lot to the Obama Campaign. Bill Richardson is a democratic super delegate and he is likely to influence the Hispanic voting population. Richardson is the only Hispanic governor in the country. Richardson becomes the second 2008 presidential contender to endorse Obama, following Sen. Dodd of CT. Sen. Clinton has yet to be endorsed by a former candidate. Edwards and Biden remain neutral.




This comes from MSNBC's First Read, written by Mark Murray.

*** Richardson’s endorsement: When John Edwards made an appearance on Leno last night, we were bracing ourselves for a possible endorsement. We just didn’t know it would be coming from Bill Richardson, who will formally throw his support behind Obama at a campaign event today in Portland, OR. The endorsement isn’t too much of a surprise -- Richardson had been hinting his support for Obama for a while. Still, it’s significant for two reasons: 1) Richardson becomes the second Dem presidential contender to endorse Obama, while none has backed Clinton (Biden and Edwards are still neutral); and 2) Richardson specifically cited Obama’s speech on race as a reason for getting off the fence. “He asked us to rise above our racially divided past, and to seize the opportunity to carry forward the work of many patriots of all races, who struggled and died to bring us together,” he said in a letter to his supporters. “As a Hispanic, I was particularly touched by his words.” The Obama camp, though, has to be a bit disappointed the endorsement didn’t come before Texas. In fact, of the remaining contests, Puerto Rico is the only one left with a significant Hispanic population. Expect some bitterness from Clinton land on this one, in particular because many of them believe that without Bill Clinton appointing Richardson to two Cabinet posts, he wouldn't have had the experience that makes him a viable veep candidate. Of course, Richardson’s endorsement means another superdelegate for Obama, raising his overall delegate total (pledged and supers) to 1,626 vs. 1,506 for Clinton.