WASHINGTON--President-elect Barack Obama will name New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson Commerce Secretary at a press conference in Chicago on Wednesday, a source has confirmed to the Sun-Times.

Former President Bill Clinton appointed Richardson, a former congressman, United Nations Ambassador and Energy Secretary. Richardson ran for president and dropped out of the 2008 contest after a poor performance in the Democratic primaries. He eventually endorsed Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton--to the disappointment of the Clinton team, who thought, collectively, that Richardson owed the Clintons enough that he should have stayed neutral. Now Clinton, Obama's Secretary of State nominee and Richardson will serve in the same Obama cabinet.