After weeks of personal pondering and not a little anguish, New Mexico's Gov. Bill Richardson ha s decided to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The official endorsement will come later today in Portland, Ore., according to the Associated Press.

Richardson, who ran against both of the surviving Democratic candidates, Illinois Sen. Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, is the nation's only Latino governor. He gave up his own run for the White House on Jan. 10 after never really gaining much traction -- he garnered barely 2% of the caucus votes in Iowa -- amid suspicions he was really auditioning as a possible vice presidential nominee for the party's eventual winner.

That suspicion might still be there. Richardson and the less-experienced Obama could make a good fit since such a combo brings a Latino link to the nation's fastest-growing population sector, a managerial link both as a Cabinet secretary and a state chief executive, diplomatic experience as a troubleshooter and U.N. ambassador and, especially, someone not recently connected to Washington and from the once-staunchly Republican Rocky Mountain corridor.

After a series of initial stumbles, Richardson did show some flash during a summer debate in Des Moines when he referred to both Clinton and Obama. "You know," he said with a smile, "I think that Sen. Obama does represent change. Sen. Clinton has experience. Change and experience: With me, you get both."

Had it come earlier, the governor's endorsement could have helped Obama stem Clinton's victories in Texas and California, where she showed real strength in Latino communities. In fact, she won the Democratic primary in Richardson's home state with a 2-to-1 majority among Latinos.

Richardson, who is a Democratic superdelegate, gave a subtle hint to his...