Richardson Looks West

ABC News’ Sarah Amos Reports: Long before the final count came in for the Democratic primary in New Hampshire, Governor Bill Richardson took to the stage at his rally in Manchester admitting defeat for a second time, but refusing to bring his campaign to an end.

"We head out west and the fight goes on,"  Richardson told the cheering crowd of about 150 supporters. 

Richardson’s distant fourth place finish here in New Hampshire means he is leaving the state in a similar fashion to how he entered it less than a week ago.  In Iowa, Richardson managed to finish with two percent of the vote, enough to keep him in the running, but not enough to allow him to build any sort of momentum here in New Hampshire.   

Richardson had hoped to his grass-roots style of campaigning would boost his poll numbers in New Hampshire, a state known for their love of retail politics.  In fact tonight Richardson joked with supporters saying, "thank you to the hundreds of New Hampshire voters who invited us into your homes, sometimes forcibly." 

Many of the voters Richardson met over the past 5 days did compliment Richardson on a strong debate performance.  However, that was often followed by, the confession that Richardson was their second choice.  It is a problem that has plagued Richardson since his campaign has begun, and one he hopes he will finally be able to escape by heading to western states where his support base is much stronger. 

While the Governor would love to make it to Super Duper Tuesday, where his own state New Mexico will be in play.  To do so Richardson will first need a strong finish in the January 19th Nevada caucus.  And so after shaking a few hands and one last cheer from the crowd  Richardson headed for the airport to catch a flight back to the west.  He’ll make a quick stop in New Mexico and is currently set to begin the final leg of his Nevada campaign s early as Thursday afternoon.