US:SENATOR BARACK Obama has received a long-sought endorsement from Bill Richardson, a former rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, in a boost for his campaign after its most difficult month to date.
Mr Richardson, the only Hispanic governor in the US, declared his support for Mr Obama at a rally in Portland, Oregon, labelling him "a once-in-a-lifetime leader".
The governor of New Mexico and a former cabinet official in the administration of President Bill Clinton had been courted by both Mr Obama and by Hillary Clinton.
Mr Richardson's support comes after weeks in which the Obama campaign has been rocked by its losses in primary elections in Texas and Ohio and by the circulation of controversial comments by Jeremiah Wright, Mr Obama's pastor.
Mr Obama's standing in the opinion polls has also dropped, with recent surveys indicating that he is running even with or behind Mrs Clinton among Democratic voters. In national surveys, both are running behind John McCain, the Republican candidate.
Some polls indicate that Mr Obama would do less well against Mr McCain than Mrs Clinton in important general election swing states such as Ohio. However, Mr Obama's campaign will hope that Mr Richardson's support helps with Latino voters - who have often preferred Mrs Clinton - as well as with the "superdelegates" who will ultimately decide the Democratic nomination.
"It is time for Democrats to stop fighting among themselves and prepare for the tough fight that we will have against John McCain," Mr Richardson said yesterday.
The Obama campaign, which is well ahead in the race for elected delegates to the Democratic convention, has also benefited from indications this week that the states of Florida and Michigan are unlikely to hold revotes to replace previously disqualified primary contests that Mrs Clinton won.
Yesterday's developments came after revelations that contractors for the state department had breached the privacy of the passport files of both the Democratic candidates and of Mr McCain.
Spokesman Sean McCormack said intrusion into Mr Obama's files appeared to be merely "imprudent curiosity". He added that Condoleezza Rice had called Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton to apologise and would do so with Mr McCain.
Mr McCormack said Mrs Clinton's file had been breached by a trainee who had inappropriately entered the presidential candidate's details during a training exercise last year.
He said Mr Obama's file had been breached three times this year by contractors working for the state department, two of whom had been dismissed and one of whom had been suspended.
He added that the suspended contractor had also accessed Mr McCain's passport file.
The news about Mr Obama's file echoed a 1992 incident in which senior state department officials in the administration of President George HW Bush ordered a search for embarrassing information in the passport and consular records of Bill Clinton, the then president's rival in the election that year.
The Obama campaign described the latest incidents as "an outrageous breach of security and privacy".
The state department said it had asked the department of justice to participate in its own investigation into the breaches. Patrick Kennedy, state department undersecretary for management, said there was no resemblance "whatsoever" between the latest developments and the 1992 case. -