New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson Monday formally announced his bid for the Democratic presidential candidacy in the 2008 elections, pledging to unify the nation and be a "president for the middle class."

"I am running for president because this nation needs a leader with a proven track record and a demonstrated ability to bring people together to tackle problems at home and abroad," said the 59-year-old governor in the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

"The United States faces huge challenges, but also huge opportunities," Richardson told media and supporters in the same room where John F. Kennedy accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960.

He describes himself as the first prominent Latino to seek the Democratic presidential nomination.

Born in Pasadena, Richardson's father was American and his mother was Mexican. He grew up in Mexico City and moved to Massachusetts when he was 13 to attend prep school.

Richardson said the middle class in the U.S. has been under attack for the last six years, and if elected, he would reverse the polices that have hurt the middle class.

A former congressman and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Richardson previously referred to himself "the best qualified candidate." He was elected New Mexico governor in 2002 after serving as energy secretary from 1998 to 2001 in the Clinton administration.

Richardson said he would run for president in January and has since aired television commercials and made at least five campaign visits to the Los Angeles area.

Governor Richardson has sought to improve education, cut taxes, build a high-wage economy, expand health care access, invest in renewable energy and make New Mexico safer, according to a campaign biography.

As a congressman, Richardson successfully negotiated with then- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to secure the release of two captured American aerospace workers in 1995. He also negotiated the release of Americans held captive in Sudan and North Korea.

He co-headed a bipartisan delegation last month to North Korea, meeting with various officials seeking the return of remains of U. S. soldiers killed during the Korean War.

Richardson is the lone governor among the Democratic presidential candidates, which could give him an advantage in a field that also includes four current senators, two former senators and a congressman.

However, the generally little-known Richardson is only in the single digits in the national polls, far behind the three top-tier Democrats, incumbent senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and former North Carolina senator John Edwards.

Source: Xinhua