Obama gets crucial endorsement as race row hits campaign

WASHINGTON: New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has thrown his weight behind Democratic Presidential frontrunner Barack Obama, giving a boost to his campaign that appeared to have suffered following an outcry over his former pastor's sermons.
Obama, 46, who is attempting to be the first African-American candidate to be elected to the Oval office, and rival Hillary Clinton had been actively lobbying Richardson, who was himself a candidate but dropped out of early in the race, for his endorsement.

Obama "will be a historic and great president, who can bring us the change we so desperately need," Richardson was quoted as saying by AP.

"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," he said.

Latest delegate tally showed Obama was leading with 1,610 delegates while Clinton had 1,496. A candidate must have 2,025 candidates to win the Presidential nomination at the Democratic party convention in August.

The two candidates face the next major showdown on April 22 in the big-ticket state of Pennsylvania which has 158 delegates at stake.

The endorsement comes as a new opinion poll showed Obama trailing in the race after controversial comments made by his pastor triggered another race row and threatened to damage his campaign.

Clips from sermons by Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, show his vehement denunciations of US policy and history over race.

In one of his sermons, Wright was quoted as saying "God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human."