According to sources, President-elect Barack Obama this weekend chose New Mexico Gov. William Blaine Richardson to be commerce secretary, adding a prominent Hispanic and one-time Democratic rival to his Cabinet picks. Though the appointment won’t be announced until after Thanksgiving, according to the AP, it’s never too early to start reviewing the 61-year-old. Sure, we could focus on his time as UN ambassador and energy secretary under Bill Clinton, or harp on the time he spent in the House of Representatives, where he served from 1983 to 1997, but we’d rather focus on some things you may not know about Richardson.

1. Richardson is known for his stellar personality. In addition to having a jocular personality, the New Mexico governor’s said to be quite charming, a trait he no doubt picked up from his mother, Maria Luisa Lopez-Collada Marquez Richardson, who was a prominent socialite in Mexico. Speaking of Richardson’s family – his father insisted Maria give birth in California, because, as the governor says, his father, the Nicaragua-born William Blaine Richardson Jr., “had a complex about not being born in the United States.”

2. Richardson sure knows how to hold onto a white lie. After his successful 1982 Congressional run, Richardson’s office released a brief biography saying that the politician had been a draft pick for the Kansas City As’ 1966 team. That claim was later repeated when Richardson was appointed as an ambassador to the United Nations. It wasn’t until 2005, after reporters took a closer look at the facts, that Richardson came clean and admitted the 1982 biography had misrepresented his baseball career. He wasn’t a draft pick, said Richardson, but he thought he had been for years.

In the summer of 1967, he played for the amateur Cape Cod League’s Cotuit (MA) Kettleers. The words "Drafted by K.C." appear next to his name on a faded team program, the Journal reported.

"When I saw that program in 1967, I was convinced I was drafted," Richardson said. "And it stayed with me all these years."

Oh, how deceptive hopes can be! 

3. Richardson must know how to party – the Tufts graduate was the president of his fraternity, Delta Tau Delta at Tufts.

4. Speaking of his college partying, Gov. Richardson reportedly has quite the nice wet bar on his state plane.

5. Watch out for his breath! Time magazine described Richardson as a “cigar chomper." Hmm, we wonder if he picked up the nasty habit during the Clinton years.

6. He’s always happy to meet new people! Richardson broke Theodore Roosevelt’s 1908 record of shaking 8,513 hands over eight hours. The Guinness Book of World Records documents Richardson as shaking 13,392 times at the New Mexico State Fair and at the University of New Mexico back in 2002. We feel bad for whoever had to keep track of all those digits.

7. Richardson’s probably not as good of a shot as Republican Sarah Palin. The politician describes himself as a “recreational,” rather than an avid, hunter, and says he’s bagged an elk, a turkey and a long-haired antelope. That’s chump change for Palin, of course, who’s known to shoot moose and wolves and other furry creatures who are unlucky enough to find themselves in her sights.

8. Who says politicians can’t maintain relationships?! Bill Richardson married his high-school sweetheart, Barbara, more than 35 years ago.

9. Richardson’s definitely a guy’s guy — at least when it comes to the cinema. The governor’s favorite movies include "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "Rocky."

10. Richardson has garnered scads of bad press for speeding through New Mexico. Things became so bad that Ralph Nader once publicly admonished Richardson, thusly, “You are driving too fast, which makes you a danger on the New Mexican highways and a wasteful guzzler of energy." As part of his defense, which included vows to slow it down, Richardson employed that aforementioned charm: “A lot of people, especially the media, have had some fun at my expense regarding reports of my state police drivers exceeding the speed limit. I am the first to admit that I try to cram as much business as possible into each and every day. As you know, I’m impatient." Richardson later downplayed the brouhaha by saying, "We never did get a ticket, but I was speeding. I’m impatient. I try to get too many things done. But it happened twice, and then it became part of the lore."