New Mexico Governor and former Clinton Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson tells us that he cannot endorse anyone in his State’s upcoming primary; remember, he’s the chairman of this Summer’s Democratic National Convention in July.

Richardson, an Hispanic, is often mentioned as a possible Veep choice for candidate John Kerry should the Massachusetts Senator win the nomination, and he endorsed (without formally “endorsing”) Kerry on Friday:

Kerry got warm words from New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson at the Kennedy rally, although Richardson said he cannot formally endorse a candidate because he is chairing the Democratic National Convention in July. Richardson also was scheduled to attend the rally for Dean on Friday night, a Clark rally in Mesilla today and a Sen. John Edwards’ town hall meeting today in Albuquerque.

“I am here to pay tribute to a great American— John Kerry,” he said. “You can feel the momentum of Sen. Kerry, can’t you? Electability is very important. What can you say about a man who has been a hero in Vietnam, who has been a hero in the Senate?”

That comes to us from a Michael Coleman piece in the Albuquerque Journal.

Is Richardson queuing for the No. 2 spot on a more-likely-than-not Kerry ticket, or is he just playing “Mr.-Important-Guy-in-the-Democrat-Party”? (Give a guy a party title and his self-image inflates, creating an oozing mound of magnanimity.)

The nation’s political press loves Governor Richardson; he’s the standard by which energy Secretaries will forever be measured in their increasingly irrelevant news (opinion) pages. This is a tad surprising, in that he ran very far away from Clinton in seeking his State’s governorship, and he keeps his distance today. But that’s for Clinton’s reprehensible personal conduct, not the former President’s spineless liberalism flailing about in a centrist’s costume.

For what it’s worth, politics aside, I like Richards viscerally. He is a bright man.

Anyway, Coleman offers us this on the New Mexico primary:

Eight names are on the ballot here, six of the seven major candidates who are still in the race; Dick Gephardt, who dropped out of the race; and longshot Fern Penna.

I’m saddened that Democrat candidate Lyndon LaRouche didn’t make the New Mexico ballot, but at least we learned later that “‘Cheers’ bartender Ted Danson warmed up the crowd” at a Wes Clark rally. The Cheers bartender was Sam Malone, and it is as Sammy that I prefer to remember Danson.

Fern Penna, I have been able to ascertain, is a Democrat from New Mexico. His e-mail address is ferns.star [AT] verizon.net. He doesn’t seem to have a web page, but here is a Q&A he did with PurePolitics.com, if you’re curious.

Yes, Fern Penna is a male, but I know of no Boy Named Fern songs.