MANCHESTER, N.H.—Bill Richardson rallied his supporters after a flat finish in New Hampshire on Tuesday with a pledge to fight on.
Declaring "On to the West," the New Mexico governor said he would continue competing for the Democratic presidential nomination through the Jan. 19 Nevada caucuses and the primaries of Feb. 5, when a number of Western states vote.
"We head out West and the fight goes on, and we will continue. We will continue to raise the question of getting all our troops out of Iraq and America becoming a clean-energy nation," Richardson told a crowd of about 100 supporters at his primary watch party in Manchester.
Richardson, his wife Barbara and campaign staff then departed for New Mexico.
With 88 percent of precints reporting, Richardson had 5 percent of the vote, about where he's been in polls for weeks. He was in fourth place behind Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards.
Richardson finished fourth in the Iowa caucuses last week with 2 percent of the vote.
Despite his deep resume, Richardson -- a former congressman, U.N. ambassador and cabinet secretary -- has been overshadowed by the battle between Obama and Clinton, and, to some extent, Edwards.
Richardson spoke before the winner was decided.
"And so we know from the results tonight there is not going to be any premature coronation," Richardson said in his only reference to his rivals. "This race is going on and on and on."
Richardson thanked the "hundreds and hundreds of New Hampshire voters that welcomed us into their homes -- sometimes forcibly."
He joked, "I want to apologize to all the New Hampshire voters who I interrupted their meals the last few days, but I want to just say how honored I am to have participated in this great state's first primary."
------
On the Net:
Bill Richardson: http://www.richardsonforpresident.com/
