DENVER -- Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson returns to Colorado on Thursday to raise money and court Western support, hoping it will help him break out of the pack of second-tier candidates.

Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, is hoping his Western roots and Hispanic heritage will pay off in a region that has swung Democratic.

Richardson has said Colorado will be a key state after Denver won the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

"He has a lot of support in Denver. Denver and Colorado are a great fit for the governor," sharing issues crucial to the West that includes water, land use, transportation, growth and immigration, said spokesman Pahl Shipley.

Shipley declined to say how much Richardson expects to raise on this trip to Colorado, but he said fundraising has been going well, though it won't match potential Democratic primary opponents Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

"We're not going to raise the kind of money the Obamas and the Clintons will raise, but we will be very competitive," he said.

Independent political consultant Eric Sondermann said Richardson is spending more time in Colorado instead of Iowa and New Hampshire because he is hoping his support in the West will help him break into the first tier of Democratic candidates.

"That strategy is a very regional campaign. Anything you do when you are in the second tier is a gamble. You're standing on the golf course, holding a golf club, hoping lightning strikes. Most of the time it doesn't," Sondermann said.

The 2008 Democratic Convention will be held in Denver. Richardson was chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention.