Last weekend’s Philadelphia speech is what finally convinced Gov. Bill Richardson to endorse Sen. Barack Obama. He was leaning in this direction, but the speech is what did it.
“The decision by Mr. Richardson, who ended his own presidential campaign on Jan. 10, to support Mr. Obama was a belt of bad news for Sen. Hillary Clinton,” writes N.Y. Times reporter Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny. “It was a stinging rejection of her candidacy by a man who had served in two senior positions in President Bill Clinton‘s administration, and who is one of the nation’s most prominent elected Hispanics.
“Mr. Richardson came back from vacation to announce his endorsement at a moment when Mrs. Clinton’s hopes of winning the Democratic nomination seem to be dimming.
“But potentially more troublesome for Mrs. Clinton was what Mr. Richardson said in announcing his decision. He criticized the tenor of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. He praised Mr. Obama for the speech he gave in response to the furor over racially incendiary remarks delivered by Mr. Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
“And he came close to doing what Mrs. Clinton’s advisers have increasingly feared some big-name Democrat would do as the battle for the nomination drags on: Urge Mrs. Clinton to step aside in the interest of party unity.
“‘I’m not going to advise any other candidate when to get in and out of the race,’ Mr. Richardson said after appearing in Portland with Mr. Obama. ‘Senator Clinton has a right to stay in the race, but eventually we don’t want to go into the Democratic convention bloodied. This was another reason for my getting in and endorsing, the need to perhaps send a message that we need unity.”