Richardson Ends Campaign Bid

Jan. 10, 2008 — -- "It is with great pride, understanding and acceptance that I am ending my campaign for president of the United States," announced Governor Bill Richardson at a press conference at the New Mexico State Capitol this afternoon.

"It was my hope that you would first hear it from me directly, and not a news organization. But unfortunately, as with too many things in our world today, it is the ending of something that garners the most intense interest and speculation," said Richardson, alluding to an Associated Press story that broke late last night saying the Governor would be dropping out.

In a field full of senators, Richardson had hoped his standing as the only Governor, and an extensive resume in politics would lead him to the Democratic nomination. Instead, the Richardson campaign was never able to gain the momentum or the financial backing needed to compete with Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama and former Senator John Edwards.

Don't expect Richardson to make any endorsement today or at any time before the nomination is settled. "He won't do it," a source close to Richardson tells ABC's Kate Snow.

And despite the fact that the Clintons are currently angry at Richardson for what they saw as his pushing his supporters to make Obama their second choice in the all important second round of voting in the Iowa Caucuses "expect Richardson to make nice" with the Clinton again soon.

Other campaigns are already trying to swoop up Richardson's resources and staff. "The vultures have been swooping in on all our people," source says.

While the Richardson campaign struggled from the beginning, the campaign had been optimistic about its chances in New Hampshire. Richardson received only two percent of the vote in the Iowa caucus, but the campaign felt the narrowing down of the field to only four leading candidates would benefit his campaign. Senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd both dropped out of the race after getting only one percent each in the Iowa caucus.

Richardson had a strong debate performance in New Hampshire, and a hectic schedule of campaign events, but was still unable to climb into double digits in many New Hampshire polls. But on Tuesday's election night Richardson finished with a mere five percent of the vote. Still, Richardson refused to admit defeat immediately, telling a rally full of supporters that night they would "head out west, and the fight goes on."

Instead, the fight came to an end out west as Governor Richardson spoke to reporters Thursday afternoon.

During the campaign Richardson often voiced frustration when speaking to crowds, saying that while he had the experience to win, the front-runners were making that impossible by out-spending him 20 to 1. Such was the case in New Hampshire, where the Governor spent a mere $500,000 on ads compared to the $4.5 million each spent by Senators Obama and Clinton.

Richardson did gain some early momentum as a possible maverick candidate. He was refreshingly honest in his speeches, had a series of popular and humorous campaign ads and was respected by many in the political world because of his tenure as a congressman, a hostage negotiator and a cabinet member in the Clinton Administration.

Richardson also had a series of early slip ups. The Governor had a rough appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," and had trouble breaking out from the pack at his early debate appearances. He ran into trouble with liberal Democratic supporters at one debate when he answered that homosexuality was a choice, not a way people were born.

Many voters Richardson met along the campaign trail told him that he was their second choice, or that he would be a wonderful vice-president. It is a stigma that has followed Richardson since his campaign began, with many political pundits wondering if Richardson was really running for the vice-president spot all along.

Richardson, an enormously popular Governor -- even among many Republicans in New Mexico, was hoping he could sustain his campaign long enough to get to the primaries in western states, where he thought he would garner more support. He was one of the primary backers of moving up the date of the Nevada caucus to Jan. 19, and a majority of the Governor's campaign contributions came from states holding their primaries on February 5th, including California, New Mexico and Colorado.

In numerous interviews Richardson would tell reporters that if he could just make it to the so-called Super-Duper Tuesday on Feb. 5, he would be able to prove that he could carry the western states, both in a primary and general election. Today, Richardson sadly admitted that he will not be able to prove that fact, with neither the money nor the staff need to continue his campaign.

"I gave this race the best that I had," Richardson told the crowd, adding that the past year had been both an exhilarating and humbling experience

Richardson officially announced he was forming an exploratory committee during an interview with George Stephanopoulos, on the ABC program "This Week" in January of 2007. He then tested the waters for several months, trying to build a network of supporters and staffers in the early primary and caucus states. Richardson formally announced his campaign on May 21st, 2007 in Los Angeles.