Clinton advised to drop her bid

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson yesterday suggested when endorsing Sen. Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential race that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton should drop out, while a primary-election lawsuit had made it tougher for the former first lady to secure the party’s nomination.

The one-time candidate’s endorsement helped Mr. Obama at the end of a difficult week, giving him the support of another former Clinton administration official who also is a superdelegate and a high-profile Hispanic.

“You will be an outstanding commander in chief,” Mr. Richardson told the Illinois senator at a rally in Portland, Ore., yesterday. “Above all, you will be a president who brings this nation together.”

The former energy secretary and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during President Clinton’s administration also said in an e-mail to his supporters on behalf of Mr. Obama yesterday that it may be time for Mrs. Clinton to get out of the race

“My affection and admiration for Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton will never waver,” he said. “It is time, however, for Democrats to stop fighting amongst ourselves and to prepare for the tough fight we will face against John McCain in the fall.

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“The 1990’s were a decade of peace and prosperity because of the competent and enlightened leadership of the Clinton administration, but it is now time for a new generation of leadership to lead America forward. Barack Obama will be a historic and a great president.”

Mrs. Clinton — who had been benefiting in polls from the controversy swirling around racially charged comments by Mr. Obama’s pastor — suffered an additional setback yesterday, when a federal appeals court dismissed a lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee (DNC) over the party’s decision to strip Florida of its delegates.

Mrs. Clinton, who won in Florida, has been pressuring the national party to reinstate Florida’s delegates.

But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta also said that the lawsuit “raises a number of significant and potentially significant questions,” giving the plaintiff — Victor DiMaio, a Tampa, Fla., Democratic Party activist — the option to amend and refile the challenge.

Mr. DiMaio, who filed the lawsuit last year, accused the party of disenfranchising Florida’s Democratic voters by barring them from having their say in choosing their party’s nominee.

He said yesterday he plans to refile the lawsuit as soon as possible.

“This is a very, very big legal question here,” said Mr. DiMaio, who said he voted for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards in Florida’s Jan. 29 primary. “My lawsuit has nothing to do with Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama; it has everything to do with the voters of Florida.”

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