State Democratic chairman Brian Colon made the announcement after a marathon hand count of 17,000 provisional ballots that had to be given to voters on February 5 because of long lines and a shortage of ballots.
The final statewide count gave her a 1,709-vote edge over rival Senator Barack Obama, 73,105 to 71,396.

The former first lady’s victory in the popular vote swung the final unallocated New Mexico delegate into her column, which gave Clinton 14 delegates in the state to 12 for Obama.

With the addition of New Mexico’s delegate, the national delegate count stood at 1,276 for Obama and 1,220 for Clinton.

“I am so proud to have earned the support of New Mexicans from across the state,” Clinton said in a written statement.

“New Mexicans want real solutions to our nation’s challenges. As president, I will continue to stand up for New Mexico and will hit the ground running on day one to bring about real change.”

The Obama campaign appeared to accept the outcome.

Obama’s state director, Carlos Monje Jr, was asked if he was confident the results were 100 per cent accurate and replied, “We have confidence in the process.”

Asked if Obama might seek a recount, he said Obama has momentum from eight wins since Super Tuesday’s two-dozen contests and “we are going to look forward to the contests we have remaining.”

Boost for Obama

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is poised to get a coveted endorsement from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which could give his campaign a major boost going into the March primaries in Ohio and Texas against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

SEIU describes itself as the largest union in the country, with 1.8 million members, and its endorsement has been highly sought by the Democratic candidates because of its manpower and war chest. The organisation has donated more than $25 million, mostly to Democratic candidates, since 1989.

On Thursday, Obama won the backing of the United Food and Commercial Workers. With SEIU, it would be Obama's third endorsement from the Change to Win labour federation. He was endorsed by UNITE HERE in January.

Clinton has at least 12 union endorsements, the latest coming from the United Farm Workers, also a Change to Win member