Of course, there’s not anything left for him in New Mexico politics (after being a representative in Congress and governor), which is a probably a good thing since he seems a little too eager to get out of New Mexico and back to DC. The locals might not take to kindly to their own governor being so ready to take the next train out of town. I’ve never been to New Mexico, but I hear Albuquerque is nice…maybe Bill Richardson disagrees. Or maybe managing a state with one of the highest poverty rates, especially concentrated on Native American reservations, is kind of depressing and heading to DC seems a lot more appealing, especially considering Commerce doesn’t really do that much and the position traditionally goes to a top political fundraiser/supporter while the actual work gets done by the managers and bureaucrats below him.

UPDATE:  Sneaky is correct.  As far as his political future, Richardson is getting term limited soon.  But that is still 2 years away and doesn’t change the slightly unseemly manner in which he has shown his willingness to leave New Mexico.