Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama gets a crucial endorsement
in Oregon from New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.   Richardson calls Obama
"something special that the country needs right now."

SHOWS: PORTLAND, OREGON, UNITED STATES (MARCH 21, 2008) (NBC) -

 Sen. Barack Obama won a coveted endorsement from fellow Democrat
Bill Richardson on Friday (March 21).
    The decision by the Hispanic governor of New Mexico is a victory for
Obama and could improve the Illinois Democrat's chances of winning over Latino
voters who have leaned toward his Democratic challenger, Sen. Hillary Clinton
of New York.
   Obama said he was very grateful for the endorsement. "He is someone
who I have admired for a long time for the service he has rendered to our
country, I believe that his endorsement is as significant as any endorsement
that we have received and he is going to be an extraordinary asset to us
campaigning throughout the country in the weeks to come," Obama said.

  Obama and Clinton are in a heated battle to represent the Democrats
against the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, in
the Nov. 4 presidential election to succeed U.S. President George W. Bush.

  Richardson, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and
energy secretary during the Clinton administration, chose to abandon the
former president and his wife, saying it was time for a new generation to take
the stage. 
   "I decided on this endorsement because I think he's something
special that the country needs right now. Somebody that can bring the country
together. Something very good about this man," Richardson said as he
stood next to Obama in Oregon.
    Clinton and Obama assiduously had cultivated Richardson's backing in
part because the Hispanic politician could garner support among the Hispanic
community, the fastest-growing segment of the electorate and a potentially
vital voting bloc.
    Hispanics largely backed Clinton in nominating contests on "Super
Tuesday," with polls showing her winning two-thirds of the Latino vote in
several states, and it was unclear whether they might shift to Obama because
of Richardson's endorsement.
    Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, on a conference call with
reporters, dismissed Richardson's potential impact this far into the race.
"I think that, you know, perhaps the time when he could have been most
effective has long since passed," he said.
     While saying his "great affection and admiration for Senator
Clinton and President Clinton will never waver," Richardson, 60, added:
"it is now time for a new generation of leadership to lead America
forward."
    A skilled negotiator and diplomat, the popular governor has been
mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate or secretary of state in a
Democratic administration.
    He also is a superdelegate who would have a vote in the nominating
contest if neither Obama nor Clinton win enough delegates during the
primaries.
     Richardson praised a speech Obama made earlier in the week on bridging
divides between blacks and whites, and extended that speech's message to
appeal to Hispanic immigrants.
  "He could have just said I am going to give a safe speech in
response to what his pastor had said but instead he faced the issue head on
and talked about unity and talked about the need to eliminate stereotypes and
it just reinforced my decision," Richardson said. 
   Obama gave that speech in response to a political controversy ignited
when news outlets called attention to sermons by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright at a
Chicago church that the Illinois senator attended for two decades.
    Wright, who retired recently, has railed that the Sept. 11 attacks were
retribution for U.S. foreign policy, called the government the source of the
AIDS virus and expressed anger over what he called racist America.