Obama Wins
Endorsement From Richardson

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama ended a rough week on a good note Friday, winning a coveted endorsement after dropping behind rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in the polls.

New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, America's only Hispanic governor and a former presidential candidate, endorsed Obama for president at a Portland, Ore., campaign event appearance with the senator Friday.

Separately, two contract employees for the U.S. State Department were fired and a third was disciplined for inappropriately looking at Obama's passport file. The department is investigating whether political or other motives were involved, though spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday the case appears to be only one of ''imprudent curiosity.''

Obama spokesman Bill Burton called the incident ''an outrageous breach of security and privacy.''

Richardson's endorsement comes as Obama leads among delegates selected at primaries and caucuses but with national public opinion polling showing Clinton pulling ahead of him in the race for the Democratic nomination amid a controversy over incendiary statements by his former pastor in Chicago.

''I believe he is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime leader that can bring our nation together and restore America's moral leadership in the world,'' Richardson said in a prepared statement. ''As a presidential candidate, I know full well Senator Obama's unique moral ability to inspire the American people to confront our urgent challenges at home and abroad in a spirit of bipartisanship and reconciliation.''

Richardson, who dropped out of the Democratic race in January, has been relentlessly wooed by Obama and Clinton for his endorsement. As a Democratic superdelegate, the governor plays a part in the tight race for nominating votes and could bring other superdelegates to Obama's side.

He also has been mentioned as a potential running mate for either candidate, and his endorsement could help Obama pick up support among Hispanics, who are America's largest and fastest-growing minority group, and have largely voted for Clinton.

Obama leads Clinton among delegates whose votes were determined by primaries or caucuses, 1,406 to 1,249. But neither is on track to win enough pledged delegates to clinch the nomination -- 2,024 are needed -- so the outcome could be decided by superdelegates, elected and party officials who can choose whomever they like.

Clinton leads among superdelegates who have announced a choice. About 40% of the superdelegates have not declared.

The Richardson endorsement comes at the end of a particularly troubled week for Obama.

Last week, the national Gallup poll had him leading Clinton 50% to 44% in a survey conducted March 11-13, but Clinton has since taken over the lead. Gallup now shows Clinton ahead of Obama 48% to 43%, according to voters questioned March 17-19, at the height of the pastor controversy.

Portions of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright's sermons blamed the United States for bringing the September 11 attacks on itself and declared that God should damn America for racial bigotry.

Obama responded with a speech Tuesday in which he confronted America's legacy of racial division head on, tackling black grievance, white resentment, and the uproar over the pastor's incendiary statements.

The bruising nomination fight threatens Democratic unity in the historic race to replace the unpopular President George W. Bush.

Some Democrats fear that a clear shot at victory for the party has been encumbered by the continued need for record-breaking campaign spending and the bickering between the Obama and Clinton camps that has allowed John McCain, the Arizona senator who is the Republican nominee-in-waiting, to largely remain above the fray.

On Thursday, the two Democrats focused their campaigns on Iraq and the economy, and Clinton also pressed demands to reinstate delegates in Michigan and Florida. Clinton won both contests, but the national Democratic Party said they would not be counted because the state votes were held too early and violated party rules. Obama was not even on the Michigan ballot.

In Michigan, the drive for a second primary collapsed, prompting a fresh dispute between Obama and Clinton over the fate of the state's 128 national convention delegates.

The state held a primary in January, so early in the year that it violated party rules. As a result, it was stripped of its delegates. Obama and several other Democratic candidates removed their name from the Michigan ballot, and all Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign there.

Obama's campaign said a fair resolution would be to split delegates evenly with Clinton. Aides to the former first lady instantly rejected the idea.

Florida also had its 210 delegates stripped for voting in January. A proposal for a mail-in vote in the state fell apart earlier this month without support from the party's congressional delegation.

Fund-raising totals for February released Thursday showed the fierceness of the fight between the two Democrats. Obama's campaign spent at the rate of nearly $1.5 million a day that month.

Obama raised $55.4 million and still had about $30 million in the bank for the primaries going into March, according to his report to the Federal Election Commission.

Clinton spent about $1 million a day, picking her states and her advertising markets more selectively. She raised $34.5 million but ended with less than half of Obama's cash on hand for the primary.

McCain reported raising $11 million in February.

McCain visited London on Thursday and told reporters there that Americans were increasingly backing the U.S. troop ''surge'' strategy in Iraq and believed the tactic was bringing success. (AP)