PORTLAND, Ore. — Bill Richardson, the nation's only Hispanic governor, backed Barack Obama for president yesterday, moved to deliver his much-coveted endorsement by the senator's speech about race.

The New Mexico governor joined Obama at a spirited rally yesterday and said the Illinois senator demonstrated his leadership this week with his speech on race. "You are a once-in-a-lifetime leader," the governor said from the stage. "Above all, you will be a president who brings this nation together."

Richardson dropped his own bid for the nomination in January. His support comes during a tough period for Obama. Although he still leads Hillary Rodham Clinton in delegates, Obama has seen his lead in national polls wither in the fallout from divisive remarks by his former pastor.

Richardson was relentlessly courted by both candidates, and his support gives Obama a potential counterweight to Clinton's strength among Hispanic voters.

FLORIDA PRIMARY LAWSUIT DISMISSED

ATLANTA — A federal appeals court dismissed a lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee over the party's decision to strip Florida of its delegates to its national convention.

But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a ruling released yesterday, said the lawsuit "raises a number of interesting and potentially significant questions," and gave the plaintiff an opening to amend and refile the lawsuit.

Victor DiMaio, a Democratic Party activist from Tampa, Fla., said he will refile.

DiMaio's lawsuit accused the party of disenfranchising Florida's Democratic voters by barring them from having their say in choosing their party's nominee. The national party stripped both Florida and Michigan of their national convention delegates because those states' parties moved their primaries to January dates that were earlier than party rules allow.

The Democratic National Committee argued that the party has the right to set and follow its own rules.

The three-judge panel agreed with a U.S. district judge in Tampa who dismissed the challenge, saying that DiMaio "undeniably" lacked standing to bring the lawsuit because he had yet to vote in the Florida primary when it was filed.

MCCAIN CRITICIZES TIBET CRACKDOWN

PARIS — Sen. John McCain said yesterday that China is harming its world image with its crackdown in Tibet and expressed hope Beijing will seek a peaceful solution to the crisis.

McCain did not discuss the issue during a 45-minute meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but said later the subject was "one of the first things I would talk about if I were president of the United States today."

China's crackdown "is not correct," McCain said in the courtyard of the French presidential Elysee Palace.

"The people there are being subjected to mistreatment that is not acceptable with the conduct of a world power, which China is," McCain said in response to a question by a Chinese television journalist.

McCain was in Paris for a matter of hours at the end of a weeklong tour of the Middle East and Europe. He was traveling as part of a U.S. congressional delegation that visited Iraq, Jordan, Israel and London.

OBAMA OUTSPENDS, OUTRAISES CLINTON

WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton upped the tempo of her fundraising and her spending last month, only to be eclipsed by rival Barack Obama. At month's end, with debts of nearly $9 million, her money was nearly spent and he was sitting atop $30 million in available cash.

Obama's campaign spent at a rate of nearly $1.5 million a day in February — a crucial month that began with the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday and ended with both candidates marching toward a showdown March 4 in Texas and Ohio. Clinton, riding her best fundraising period yet, spent about $1 million a day on average.

But reports filed with the Federal Election commission late Thursday showed that Obama set a single-month fundraising record, with more than $55 million in contributions.

Both Democrats ended up with more than $30 million in the bank, but Clinton can't use two-thirds of her cash on hand because rules restrict its use to only the general election. That and her debt left her less than $3 million in the black. The debt doesn't include the $5 million she lent her campaign in January.