US President-elect Barack Obama named New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as his choice for commerce secretary yesterday after passing over his former Democratic presidential rival for secretary of state.

The two appeared at a news conference in Chicago. Richardson's nomination as commerce secretary has been all-but-announced for several weeks.

An energy secretary and United Nations ambassador in President Bill Clinton's administration, Richardson was a contender for the State Department job. But Obama offered him the post as commerce secretary after choosing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton - his strongest rival in the Democratic primaries - as his top diplomat.