After dropping out of the presidential race, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who had worked in Bill Clinton's administration, endorsed Barack Obama.

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico is a serious contender for commerce secretary in the Obama administration, two sources close to the transition said Friday.

The same sources, however, cautioned that Richardson could be tapped for another senior post as well. They do not consider Richardson's appointment to the Commerce Department to be a done deal.

Richardson, 61, was a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Currently in his second term as New Mexico's governor, he previously served as ambassador to the United Nations and energy secretary in the Clinton administration.

Sen. Hillary Clinton has emerged as a leading contender to be the country's top diplomat in the next administration.

(CNN) – Sen. Hillary Clinton continues to top the short list of possible contenders to be the next Secretary of State under President-elect Barack Obama.

In addition to Clinton, there are several prominent Democrats and even one Republican on CNN’s list:

SEN. JOHN KERRY: The 2004 Democratic presidential nominee has served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for almost 20 years.

DR. SUSAN RICE: A veteran of Bill Clinton’s State Department, Rice was also a senior adviser to Obama’s presidential campaign.

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON: The New Mexico governor was tapped by Bill Clinton to be U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., but Richardson broke with the Clintons when he decided to endorse Obama after ending his own 2008 presidential bid.

SEN. DICK LUGAR: The Republican, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, worked with Obama last year to expand a program that destroys weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union.

SAM NUNN: The former Democratic senator from Georgia currently co-chairs an effort to reduce threats from nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. While in the Senate, Nunn worked with Lugar to destroy weapons of mass destruction amassed by the former Soviet Union.

Click here for additional CNN short lists for Obama’s potential cabinet.

(CNN) — CNN has learned that President-elect Barack Obama spoke with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson Friday to discuss the post of Secretary of State. A senior Democratic source tells CNN that Richardson’s name has always been on Obama’s list for that post. Obama has also gauged Sen. Hillary Clinton’s interest in the post if she were offered it. If Clinton does not express interest in the post, then Richardson and others would be candidates for the job.

Another source close to the Obama transition team tells CNN that among the key details to be worked out with Sen. Clinton, should she express interest in the position, are issues of how her husband, former President Bill Clinton would be able to continue his work with the Clinton Global Initiative without complicating her work as Secretary of State.

Watch Gov. Richardson discuss Sen. Lieberman's speech at the Republican convention.

(CNN) - Whatever goodwill Sen. Joe Lieberman may have still had with Democrats may be gone after his criticism of Sen. Barack Obama in an address to the Republican convention Tuesday.

"It's a little bit sad," New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson told CNN Wednesday. "I think he must be very bitter after his Senate issues with Democrats and the fact that he wasn't supported in the primaries but this is just going too far."

The Democrat-turned-independent's split from his former party has centered largely on issues of foreign policy — especially the conduct of the Iraq war, where Lieberman agrees with the views of his friend Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

"I don't believe that Sen. Lieberman still has credibility among Democrats," Richardson told Kiran Chetry on American Morning. "He's basically said that anybody, like myself and many others, that have opposed this war — that want to bring our troops home safely but as quickly as possible — are basically not just wrong, but unpatriotic."

Richardson also took the opportunity to take a swipe at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the presumptive Republican VP nominee. "Foreign policy, national security experience is something that she obviously doesn't have," said Richardson, who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. under President Bill Clinton. "To have a vice president without those credentials is going to be a problem."

Watch Richardson share his thoughts on the convention and other topics.

(CNN) — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said he’s now comfortable with Sen. Hillary Clinton placing her name in nomination at the Democratic convention, but he admitted he was uneasy about the move at first.

“It's going to be placed in nomination in recognition of the 18 million votes that she got — her historic candidacy. But then she is going to pledge her delegates to Sen. Obama so that it's a unanimous — a unanimous election. That — that gives me comfort,” he said Sunday on CNN’s “Late Edition.”

“Until that had been worked out, I was a little uneasy about there being just a roll call without any transference of that support to Sen. Obama. But the point is the party is united.”

Last week, Barack Obama’s campaign said it encouraged Clinton to put her name in roll call "as a show of unity and in recognition of the historic race she ran and the fact that she was the first woman to compete in all of our nation's primary contests."

Clinton last month suggested that doing so could provide a "catharsis" for her supporters.

Richardson on Sunday called Clinton a “long-time friend” who “ran a great race.”

He and the New York senator were scheduled to hold two private fundraisers Sunday to help retire her campaign debt.

Things got ugly between Richardson and the Clintons after he endorsed Obama in March.

Richardson, who served as secretary of energy in Bill Clinton’s administration, said in April that he was "very close to endorsing" Clinton, but decided not to after the campaign became negative.

"The Clintons should get over this," he said in April.

His endorsement was viewed as an act of betrayal by some longtime supporters of the Clintons. CNN Political Analyst James Carville, who has long and deep ties to both Clintons, even likened Richardson’s endorsement to Judas’s betrayal of Christ.

Richardson responded to Carville’s criticisms by saying that Carville and other Clinton supporters believe they are a “dynasty” and that they were “clinging to the throne.”

Sens. Obama and Clinton appeared with Gov. Richardson at a New Hampshire debate in January.

(CNN) – Is Bill Richardson about to kiss and make up with the Clintons? It certainly looks that way.

The New Mexico governor announced Wednesday that he will host two fundraisers to help Sen. Hillary Clinton retire more than $20 million in outstanding campaign debt accumulated during her failed White House bid.

"Governor Richardson's efforts reinforce Senator Obama's commitment to unifying the Democratic Party and assisting Senator Clinton's effort to retire her campaign debt," Bill Burton, a spokesman for Barack Obama’s campaign, said in a statement released by Richardson.

Richardson, who served as secretary of energy in Bill Clinton’s administration, decided to endorse the Illinois senator, now the presumptive Democratic nominee. The move was viewed as an act of betrayal by some longtime supporters of the Clintons. CNN Political Analyst James Carville, who has long and deep ties to both Clintons, even likened Richardson’s endorsement to Judas’s betrayal of Christ.

In late April, Richardson responded to Carville’s criticisms by saying that Carville and other Clinton supporters believe they are a “dynasty” and that they were “clinging to the throne.”

WATCH: Carville, Richardson on Larry King Live

Since announcing his support for Obama, Richardson has made numerous television and campaign appearances on Obama’s behalf. He is also mentioned as a potential pick for vice president.

In the statement from Richardson, Clinton spokeswoman Kathleen Strand said, "Senator Clinton is grateful for Governor Richardson's and Senator Obama's efforts to assist with retiring her campaign debt and she is looking forward to continuing to campaign for Senator Obama and help ensure victory for Democrats throughout the country this fall."

Senator Clinton will attend both invitation-only events in New Mexico in mid-August.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

(CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama supporter Gov. Bill Richardson, D-New Mexico, attacked Sen. John McCain’s stance on offshore drilling on Sunday, calling the Arizona senator’s plan “cosmetic steps.”

“The point is that we have got to have a bipartisan comprehensive strategy and this administration, it seems Senator McCain, all they want to do is drill, drill, drill,” the former Democratic candidate told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “You can't drill your way out of the problem.”

Democrats have criticized the presumptive Republican nominee for his apparent “flip-flop” on the issue of offshore drilling. The McCain camp denies that he’s changed his position, arguing that he has always supported a state’s right to choose what happens in its coastal waters. Aides said recently that the senator voted to uphold the federal ban on ocean drilling in 2000 as a way of supporting states’ rights.

Throughout his appearance on Late Edition, Richardson frequently linked McCain’s proposal to the plan put forth by President Bush.

“The Bush administration has waited eight years to pressure OPEC and their great friends, the Saudis. When President Bush came in, he said he was going to jawbone OPEC to increase production,” the governor stated. “What is needed is not what the president and John McCain want to do, which is drill offshore. What is needed is a comprehensive strategy of fuel efficiency, 50 miles-per-gallon vehicles… mass transit. What is needed is investments in renewable energy and solar and wind,” he said.

Richardson is the latest in a string of Democrats to slam McCain’s solution for lowering gas prices. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada called it a “cynical campaign ploy” and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, said: “It is so hard to tell what Sen. McCain’s positions are because they change so rapidly… [This] is certainly not the position he had just six months ago.”

Gov. Richardson endorsed Sen. Obama in March.

(CNN) – New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, backed the Democratic Party’s new standard-bearer in a growing dust-up between the McCain and Obama camps over how to wage the war on terrorism.

Asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer whether al Qaeda suspects should be given the same rights that American citizens enjoy in U.S. courts, Richardson said he “totally” disagrees with the Bush administration’s policy of treating terrorism detainees as enemy combatants and treating them differently than defendants in typical criminal cases. “We have to protect our country from terrorists but we don’t have to be like them by abridging our own freedoms,” Richardson added.

WATCH Bill Richardson's interview from The Situation Room

The former presidential candidate, who served as Energy Secretary under President Clinton, also waded into a second dispute between the two presumptive nominees over energy policy. “In the Clinton administration, we pushed for renewable energy, for fuel efficiency. We should have pushed harder,” Richardson said. “I’m the first to say that both Republican and Democratic administrations have not come forth with a sustainable, long term energy policy,” he added.

Gov. Richardson endorsed Sen. Obama in March.

NEW YORK (CNN) – Former presidential rival turned supporter Bill Richardson will campaign this week for Barack Obama in Puerto Rico, 10 days before the Commonwealth holds its Democratic primary, a Richardson aide tells CNN.

Richardson, the governor of New Mexico and former Cabinet official, is one of the most prominent Hispanic politicians in the nation. He sought the Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out of the race after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary.

While Richardson served in President Bill Clinton’s Cabinet, he chose to endorse Obama over Hillary Clinton in late March. Hillary Clinton has performed better than Obama with Hispanic voters, although the latest Gallup tracking poll suggests that the Illinois senator has erased his disadvantage with that key voting bloc.

Richardson will visit the Commonwealth on Thursday.

Fifty-five pledged delegates are at stake June 1 when Puerto Rico Democrats head to the polls.

CNN will have exclusive poll data from the Puerto Rico primary.

Watch Carville and Richardson square off on Larry King Live.

(CNN) – After weeks of verbal brawling, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and James Carville spoke for the first time on CNN’s Larry King Live Wednesday night. Richardson – now a supporter of Barack Obama – called Hillary Clinton backers like Carville ‘a dynasty’ that is ‘clinging to the throne.’

The CNN contributor defended calling Richardson a ‘Judas’ in a New York Times interview after the governor announced his endorsement of Obama.

“I said it. I was quoted accurately. I was quoted in context. I thought it was an appropriate metaphor,” Carville told King. “If it would have been the Fourth of July, I would have said ‘Benedict Arnold,’” Carville said.

Richardson called Carville’s response “typical of the reaction of Clinton supporters.”

“They feel they’re a dynasty. They’re clinging to the throne,” Richardson added.

Watch Carville and Richardson clash over whether the results in the Florida and Michigan primaries should help determine the Democratic Party’s nominee, whether Obama should agree to more debates before Indiana and North Carolina vote May 6 — and whether the primary race has become so negative it’s hurting the party’s prospects in the general election.

(CNN) — Shortly after Hillary Clinton claimed a decisive victory in Pennsylvania Tuesday night, staffers for Barack Obama’s campaign sent reporters a memo in which they tried to argue once again that her win in the state had left the status quo fundamentally unchanged.

“Tonight, Hillary Clinton lost her last, best chance to make significant inroads in the pledged delegate count,” they wrote. “The only surprising result from Pennsylvania is that in a state considered tailor-made for Hillary Clinton that she was expected to win, Barack Obama was able to improve his standing among key voter groups since the Ohio primary.”

They said that Clinton’s lead over Obama with white voters had narrowed slightly, and her advantage among seniors had shrunk by nearly half — but that gap remained significant, at 24 percent. They pointed to Obama’s strength with Independent voters, a group that did not participate in Tuesday’s primary vote.

“The bottom line is that the Pennsylvania outcome does not change dynamic of this lengthy primary,” they wrote. “While there were 158 delegates at stake there, there are fully 157 up for grabs in the Indiana and North Carolina primaries on May 6.”

The Obama team had made similar arguments in the days leading up to Pennsylvania's primary, in which Clinton was favored despite being significantly outspent by the Illinois senator's campaign.

Clinton said Thursday she never said Obama can't win.

(CNN) – Hillary Clinton on Thursday disputed a report that she once told Bill Richardson she didn't think Barack Obama could win in a general election.

"I have consistently made the case that I can win because I believe I can win, and you know sometimes people draw the conclusion I'm saying somebody else can't win," she said at a Burbank, California press conference.

Pressed further if she had said Obama can't win, Clinton said, "That's a no."

Earlier Thursday, citing sources with “direct knowledge of the conversation,” ABC News reported Clinton once told Richardson, "He [Obama] cannot win, Bill. He cannot win."

UPDATE: A Hillary Clinton staffer tells reporters covering her campaign that the New York senator did not correctly hear the follow up question about whether or not she once told Bill Richardson she didn't think Barack Obama could win in a general election. The aide said Clinton thought she was being asked if she would divulge the private conversation that she had with Richardson and answered no.

Watch Bill Richardson's comments.

(CNN) — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday sharply disputed Bill Clinton's reported claim that Richardson promised not to endorse Barack Obama's bid for the White House.

"I never did," Richardson told CNN. "I never saw [President Clinton] five times. I saw him when he watched the Super Bowl with me. We made it very clear to him that he shouldn't expect an endorsement after that meeting."

Bill Clinton's comments reportedly came during a recent meeting with some California superdelegates. The San Francisco Chronicle reported the former president got "red faced" when the subject of Richardson came up and said, "Five times to my face (Richardson) said that he would never do that."

In the interview Wednesday, Richardson acknowledged he was "very close to endorsing" Clinton, but decided not to after the campaign got "nasty."

"I held back. I waited. I felt the campaign got nasty. I heard Senator Obama; he would talk to me continuously," Richardson said.

"The Clintons should get over this," he added.

Richardson, a former U.N. Ambassador and Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration, endorsed Obama late last month.

Read more: Richardson denies promise to Clintons

Related: Watch Bill Richardson's interview on The Situation Room.

(CNN) – New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday sharply disputed Bill Clinton's reported claim that Richardson promised to endorse Hillary Clinton's bid for the White House.

Full story

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Richardson recently endorsed Obama despite his longstanding ties to the Clintons.
(Photo credit: AP)

(CNN) — Barack Obama supporter Gov. Bill Richardson, D-New Mexico, responded on Sunday to controversial comments by James Carville, saying that he would not "stoop to Carville's level."

Carville, a Hillary Clinton supporter and former strategist for her husband's 1992 presidential campaign, compared Richardson to the Biblical figure Judas in an interview with the New York Times last week. When later asked whether his comment was accurate, Carville made no attempt to apologize, saying that it had "the desired effect."

"I haven't gotten into the gutter on this. And you know, I'm not going to stoop to Carville's level. I barely know the guy in the first place," Richardson told Bob Scheiffer on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Carville had argued that Richardson's endorsement of the Illinois senator was an act of betrayal since the governor has a long history of political ties with her husband. Richardson disagreed.

"I think loyalty to the nation, loyalty to the party is a lot more important than personal loyalty," he said. "I owe the Clintons a lot. I served in the president's cabinet. That loyalty is to President Clinton. That doesn't mean that I'm going to for the rest of my life be in lockstep with whatever they do."

Read the rest of this entry »

WASHINGTON (CNN) — This week, the spirited back-and-forth between the camps of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led some in the Democratic Party to suggest that Clinton bow out of the race in order to unify Democrats against Sen. John McCain in the general election. The debate over whether it was time for Clinton to exit the race dominated the Sunday morning political talk show circuit.

CNN’s “Late Edition” featured a showdown between two Democratic strategists, Clinton supporter James Carville and Jamal Simmons, who backs Obama. Carville quickly downplayed any suggestion that Clinton drop out.

“The Clinton campaign has not had one one-second meeting about getting out of the race,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “Calling on her to get out of the race is…going to hurt him in terms of getting votes. And it is going to make it more difficult to reconcile the party.”

Simmons responded that it’s the negativity coming from the Clinton campaign that’s tearing the Democratic Party apart. He said that Democrats “feel like Senator Clinton is fighting Barack Obama like he's a Republican and not fighting him like he's a fellow Democrat.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Richardson’s backing was sought by both the Clinton and Obama campaigns.

(CNN) – Bill Richardson criticized a Clinton campaign adviser Friday for suggesting his endorsement of Barack Obama is insignificant.

"I resent the fact that the Clinton people are now saying that my endorsement is too late because I only can help with Texans — with Texas and Hispanics, implying that that's my only value," the New Mexico governor told CNN's John King.

"That's typical of some of his advisers that kind of turned me off."Earlier Friday, Clinton campaign senior strategist Mark Penn said he thought Richardson's endorsement came too late to make an impact.

“The time that he could have been effective has long since passed," Penn told reporters on a conference call. "I don’t think it is a significant endorsement in this environment.”

In the interview Friday, Richardson also said he called Hillary Clinton Thursday to inform her of his decision to back Obama, a conversation he described as "painful."

"It was painful and it wasn't easy," he said. "I've spoken to others who have had that same conversation and they say at the end, it’s not all that pleasant.

"The former Democratic presidential candidate declined to elaborate further on his conversation with Clinton.Last month, Chris Dodd — another former presidential candidate who decided to endorse Obama last month — said he had a "not comfortable" conversation with Clinton informing her of the news.

Also in the interview Friday, Richardson said he ultimately decided to back Obama because the Illinois senator has "something special."

"I think that Sen. Obama has something special,” explained Richardson. “Something that can bring internationally America’s prestige back, that can deal with the race issue as he did so eloquently last week, that can deal with the domestic issues in a bipartisan way."

Richardson, who held posts as the Secretary of Energy and the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. in President Clinton’s administration, also said he "owes a lot to the Clinton family but I served well. I paid it back in service to the country."

Related video: Richardson on Obama endorsement

Updated 7:22 p.m. to add link to interview video

– CNN's Martina Stewart and Alex Mooney

Watch Bill Richardson endorse Obama. (AP Photo)

(CNN) — Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico endorsed Sen. Barack Obama in the Democratic race for president Friday.

"Barack Obama will make a great and historic president," Richardson told a rally in Portland, Oregon, with Obama standing at his side.

Richardson said Obama's recent speech on race in America, saying he "understands clearly that only by bringing people together, only by bridging our differences can we all succeed together as Americans."

"He appealed to the best in us … as a Hispanic American I was particularly touched by his words," Richardson added.

Full story

Obama will receive the endorsement of former presidential rival Richardson on Friday.

(CNN) — Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama in the Democratic race for president Friday, an Obama campaign spokesperson told CNN.

Richardson plans to join Obama at a rally in Portland, Oregon, at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

In an e-mail to supporters, Richardson said Obama will be a "historic and a great president, who can bring us the change we so desperately need by bringing us together as a nation here at home and with our allies abroad."

Richardson also said in the e-mail that he was touched by Obama's recent speech on race in America, saying he "understands clearly that only by bringing people together, only by bridging our differences can we all succeed together as Americans."

Richardson is the nation's only Hispanic governor. Hispanics have tended to support Obama's rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Full story

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hit the road in Ohio, relying on campaign surrogates to stump for them on the Sunday morning talk-shows.

The television appearances come at a critical time for both candidates as next Tuesday's key primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island loom on the horizon. On CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," Clinton supporter Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, explained why he is supporting the senator from New York.

"I'm supporting Hillary Clinton because I know she knows, understands and cares about issues that affect border communities like the one I represent."

Obama surrogate Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, also spoke to Blitzer, and defended his candidate's foreign policy experience.

"The fact is that Barack Obama comes to this race with more experience than George Bush, Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton had in foreign policy at the national level. And the fact is that he has proven that it's his judgment that is correct," Kerry said.

Read the rest of this entry »