Richardson, who hoped to become the first Hispanic U.S. president, won just 5 percent of the Democratic vote in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, finishing fourth behind Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is dropping out of the race for the Democratic U.S. presidential nomination after a poor showing in early contests, U.S. media reported on Wednesday.
Richardson, who hoped to become the first Hispanic U.S. president, won just 5 percent of the Democratic vote in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, finishing fourth behind Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.
Richardson also trailed the front-runners last week in the Iowa caucuses, which kicked off the state-by-state process of selecting Democratic and Republican candidates for the presidential election in November to succeed President George W. Bush.
Richardson, 60, was expected to announce his withdrawal from the White House race on Thursday, the media reports said, quoting sources with knowledge of the situation. His campaign had no comment.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Citing a Richardson strategist it did not identify, CNN said the numbers were the reasons Richardson was dropping his presidential bid. "Not enough votes, not enough money," CNN said.
Richardson was elected to a second term as New Mexico governor in 2006. He had been a leading Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives and, under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, served as U.N. ambassador and energy secretary.
(Editing by Peter Cooney)
