New Mexico Gov. Richardson backs Obama's WHouse bid

By Matthew Bigg

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Friday endorsed Barack Obama's bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. president, handing the Illinois senator a potential boost among Hispanic voters.

Richardson's endorsement posed a personal blow to Obama's rival Hillary Clinton, who also fiercely sought his backing in part because as a Hispanic he is seen as influential within the Latino community, likely a key voting bloc in the November presidential election.

Also on Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she called Obama to apologize for the unauthorized access to his passport file taken by some department contract workers, two of whom were fired over the incident.

"I told him that I was sorry and I told him that I myself would be very disturbed if I learned that somebody had looked into my passport file," Rice told reporters at the start of a meeting with Brazil's defense minister. She said an investigation was being done through the Justice Department.

Obama and Clinton, a New York senator, are locked in a tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination to take on presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.

Hispanics, the fastest-growing segment of the electorate, largely backed Clinton in nominating contests on "Super Tuesday," with exit polls showing her winning two-thirds of the Latino vote in several states.

Richardson, 60, was energy secretary and U.N. ambassador in the administration of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and his support had been courted by both Clintons.

"Barack Obama will be a historic and a great President, who can bring us the change we so desperately need by bringing us together as a nation here at home and with our allies abroad," Richardson, who had made his own run for the Democratic nomination, said in a statement.