(Updated: Richardson to Leave Race?) What Will Richardson Do?

UPDATE: Nedra Pickler at the AP reports, based on two anonymous sources close to the Governor, that Bill Richardson will announce tomorrow that he'll end his bid to be the Democratic presidential nominee. The decision allegedly was reached after a meeting with his top advisers Wednesday in New Mexico. However, MSNBC reports that Katie Roberts, deputy communications director for the Richardson campaign, denied the report.
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Despite garnering only 5% in New Hampshire and finishing a distant fourth there, Gov. Bill Richardson is still insisting he will continue on to Nevada's caucus on January 19th. You can see his concession speech on the CSPAN site. The Governor has said he believes he has more support in the West than has been evident back East. We'll see.

Richardson's campaign is reportedly running out of money and bought no ad time in New Hampshire during the week before the primary. In addition, New Mexico's 30-day Legislative Session begins on January 15th and Richardson must put at least some energy into pushing his agenda there. He's supposed to give his State of the State speech at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe on 1/15, and there's a Dem debate that night in Nevada.

Richardson is back in New Mexico today and will be involved in appointing a successor to Sen. Ben Altamirano who passed way recently. After that, it's anyone's guess. The most recent polling numbers on Nevada, from early December, show him in single digits. I'm sure he and his advisers are pondering whether they can stay in until New Mexico's Dem caucus on February 5th, and whether doing so would decrease his power to achieve his legislative agenda in New Mexico. It's a tough call.

VP Slot
How about Richardson's chances of being named the VP candidate if Hillary wins? Even that's looking like a long shot these days. The Clinton camp is reportedly angry about rumors that Richardson's campaign urged supporters in nonviable precincts in Iowa to move to Obama's corner. The Richardson campaign continues to deny the allegation, but it seems to have legs. In this video, Richardson complains he's being blamed in part for Clinton's loss in Iowa:

... it's a lot of the Clinton people that are putting this out and I really resent it. It's wrong. I believe very strongly that this was a big vote for Obama because he brought a lot of new people in. That's why he won and those people should stop trying to get scapegoats.

Howie Morales to Replace Sen. Ben Altamirano?
By the way, former Silver City resident Avelino at NM FBIHOP says it looks like Grant County Clerk Howie Morales has a great chance to be appointed to Sen. Altamirano's State Senate seat after being selected by both Grant and Socorro Counties. I understand that Richardson must appoint someone from the names submitted by the County Commissions of the three counties with territory inside Senate District 28. We don't yet know who the conservative Catron County Commission will recommend when it meets tonight.