Jim Cole/Associated Press

Democratic presidential contender Gov. Bill Richardson talks with supporters at a post-primary party in Manchester, N.H. While Richardson polled only 5 percent on the Democratic ballot Tuesday, many voters say they would like to see him as the party's vice presidential candidate.

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MANCHESTER, N.H. — An informal poll of New Hampshire voters suggests they want to see Gov. Bill Richardson on the 2008 presidential ballot — just not at the top.

Richardson finished a distant fourth in Tuesday's primary, garnering 5 percent of the vote.

Despite it being his second straight fourth-place finish, he vowed Tuesday — as he has for months — that he would carry his battle for president to the Nevada caucuses Jan. 19.

"This race is going on and on and on," he told supporters. "And as we head out West, the fight goes on."

But while a sample of voters interviewed Tuesday said they liked Richardson, they liked him more as the vice presidential candidate, whether with surprise winner Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, runner-up Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, or third-place finisher John Edwards of North Carolina.

Said Clinton voter Marie Lemay, 72, of Goffstown, "I'm supporting him (Richardson) for vice president. I think that would be the strongest ticket in the whole world. I like what he's done. He's been ambassador in the U.N. He's done a lot for New Mexico. I think he would bring that experience into the vice presidency."

Edwards voter Kathy Ahern of Bedford said Richardson "has the same morals and values as Edwards."

U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, a Santa Fe Democrat, said in a phone interview those comments jibed with what he heard while campaigning with Richardson in Iowa and New Hampshire.

"The voters I ran into uniformly like Bill Richardson. They thought he was a strong national leader, and there should be a place for him in future administrations," said Udall.

But Udall said the presidency has been Richardson's dream for a long time, and he's entitled to go on to the Western states where he's better known.

And speaking to supporters here Tuesday night, Richardson sounded like a man still living that dream and trying to ignore the nightmarish results.

"I am happy. I am honored. I feel good. I feel positive about this country," Richardson told about 150 supporters crammed into a small hall in Manchester.

The one good result for Richardson was that Obama did not win and set off a stampede to the nomination as some polls had suggested.

"We learned with the results tonight there is not going to be any premature coronation," Richardson said.

He did not take questions from reporters.

Despite Richardson's bravado, aides would not confirm the campaign's original schedule to campaign in Nevada on Thursday. Press aide Tom Reynolds acknowledged the campaign did not have the funding to run ads in Nevada, but said "we have the resources we need" to run a grass-roots operation because Nevada is a caucus state.

Even as voters were going to the polls in record numbers in New Hampshire, Richardson sent an "urgent" e-mail to supporters asking for contributions "to help me move out West."

Polling in Nevada, which holds its caucus Jan. 19, has shown Richardson about where he finished in New Hampshire, according to the Web site Real Clear Politics (realclearpolitics.com). An average of polls at the beginning of December showed Richardson at 6 percent, compared with 41 percent for Clinton.

Richardson's supporters at the post-primary party were incredulous that Richardson's extensive résumé — as a congressman, Department of Energy secretary, U.N. ambassador, governor and five-time Nobel Prize nominee — did not win more respect and votes.

Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand decried the "false choice" between "change" and "experience."

"You get the change and the experience when you vote for Bill Richardson," declared Marchand.

Al Furnell, a 75-year-old Teamster, sneered, "This kid (Obama) all the kids are touting today — I feel sorry for him. I really do. What's he going to change?"

George Bruno, a longtime and highly sought-after New Hampshire activist, said Richardson was badly hurt by the compression of Iowa and New Hampshire into the first eight days of the year on the heels of the holidays.

"There wasn't enough time for voters to digest all the information they were hearing," said Bruno.

Other voters interviewed more closely reflected the majority in New Hampshire. William Langley, 49, a bricklayer in Goffstown who voted for Clinton, said he never considered Richardson.

"You look at him on TV, he just doesn't really look like a president. He is not as articulate. He's a little heavier-looking. He just doesn't look the part you know," said Langley.

But Jael Roberge, 36, of Goffstown said she voted for Richardson because he seemed different from the other candidates.

"Most of them just seem part of this one big machine. I liked him basically," said Roberge. "I think people really let the media help them decide how to vote and don't reach outside the box for candidates who might be better."

New Mexico pollster Brian Sanderoff said Richardson got a jump in both Iowa and New Hampshire last spring by being the first Democratic candidate to run ads, but then was overwhelmed by the wealthier Clinton, Obama and Edwards campaigns.

"Bill not only plateaued; he started dropping," Sanderoff said. "Not because he was a weak candidate, but because the other candidates were stronger."

University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said Richardson remains a viable vice presidential candidate for any of the Democratic front-runners. Even Obama could pick a member of another minority for a running mate, just as Bill Clinton picked a fellow Southerner in Al Gore in 1992.

But Sanderoff said a presidential candidate turns cautious when selecting a vice presidential nominee, especially if he thinks he's going to win.

Richardson reportedly damaged himself in the eyes of the Clinton campaign because some of his Iowa caucus supporters switched to Obama in precincts where Richardson could not win enough support to be considered viable.

Udall dismissed the reports as "much ado about nothing." Although some Clinton aides are reportedly miffed, Richardson himself was nicer to Clinton than either Edwards or Obama in the debates, he said.