CHICAGO - During the long series of Democratic debates last year, Bill Richardson came to realize he was not exactly the center of attention. Most of the questions were going to the star candidates, and he began tuning out.
So when a moderator turned to him with a question while he was not listening, Richardson panicked -- until the candidate next to him saved him. "Katrina," Barack Obama whispered. "Katrina." Richardson then launched into his spiel on the hurricane that ravaged New Orleans. "He could have thrown me under the bus," Richardson recalled, "but he stood behind me."
Obama stood with him again Wednesday as he announced that he would make Richardson secretary of commerce.
It has been a tumultuous journey for Richardson to this point, from the nation's most prominent Hispanic leader to an afterthought on the presidential campaign trail, from a target of the angry Clinton camp to the Cabinet of the winner.
His destination proved not to be the presidency, as he had hoped, nor the vice presidency or secretary of state. But Obama said it was not a consolation prize. "Well, commerce secretary is a pretty good job, you know," he said with Richardson beside him on Wednesday. "It's a member of my key economic team that is going to be dealing with the most significant issue that America faces right now, and that is how do we put people back to work and rejuvenate the economy."
Richardson is the third person who lost to Obama in the Democratic primaries to join the nascent administration, after Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, tapped for secretary of state. It could get a little uncomfortable in the Cabinet Room when Richardson looks across the table at Clinton, whose political family was so outraged when he endorsed Obama over her.
In the end, though, she got the job that he badly wanted, so she can afford to move on. Certainly, Richardson sounded ready to do so on Wednesday. "There are some who speak of a team of rivals," he said. "But I've never seen it that way. Past competitors, yes. But 'rivals' implies something harder edged and less forgiving."
Richardson's path to the Obama Cabinet has been long and winding. While serving in the House, he earned a reputation as a diplomatic troubleshooter. President Bill Clinton gave him two Cabinet posts, first ambassador to the United Nations and later secretary of energy. Richardson then went home to win the governorship of New Mexico.
Hispanic leaders lobbied Obama on behalf of Richardson, arguing that Hispanic voters were a vital part of the winning coalition.