(CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama’s speech on race was a decisive factor in Bill Richardson’s endorsement of his presidential bid, the New Mexico governor revealed Saturday.
Sen. Barack Obama received the endorsement of Gov. Bill Richardson on Friday.
“I think what kind of clinched it for me, although I made a decision a week ago, was Sen. Obama’s speech on race,” Richardson said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“He had this problem with his pastor. He could have said nothing or glided through it. Instead, he attacked the race issue head-on, talking about stereotypes, taking some very, very tough stances on this issue.”
Richardson, who had sought this year’s Democratic nomination for president himself, was referring to controversy surrounding racially charged comments made by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s former pastor.
In his Tuesday speech, Obama denounced some of Wright’s comments but said he could not repudiate the man himself.
On Friday at a rally in Portland, Oregon, with Obama, Richardson praised the Democrat from Illinois for the speech, saying “he appealed to the best in us.” Watch Richardson call Obama a ‘once-in-a-lifetime leader’ »
Richardson, a former Clinton cabinet official, had been undecided for weeks after ending his own presidential run. …READ MORE
