Today, March 21, 2008, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson endorsed Illinois Senator Barak Obama at a rally in Portland, Oregon – thus joining Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd in what may be a growing field of former presidential hopefuls who have decided to reject former First Lady Hillary Clinton’s calls for allegiance in favor of throwing their lot in with a charismatic upstart.

It is not fully clear why Richardson, who was thought to owe a debt of allegiance to the Clintons – under whom he had been appointed Secretary of Energy – chose to wait so long to endorse Obama. Richardson might have endorsed Obama prior to Super-Tuesday when his State of New Mexico narrowly backed Hillary Clinton. He might have even waited to endorse Obama just a few days prior to the Texas Primary/Caucus where his sway with Latino voters may have helped him turn the tables on Hillary in the Lone Star State. But instead, Richardson chose to throw whatever weight he may have left behind Obama before a crowd of pasty white Oregonians….an odd and dare I say cowardly choice to say the least.

Richardson’s endorsement is less of a boost for Obama than an indicator of how this primary race will ultimately pan out. There are only three meaningful endorsements left that might be able to alter the outcome of this contest: Jimmy Carter, Al Gore and John Edwards – whose state of North Carolina has yet to hold its primary and whose campaign still holds at least 18 delegates.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 21st, 2008 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.