Democracy for New Mexico

Join MoveOn PAC's 72 Hour GOTV Blitz

MoveOn PAC is looking for volunteers from around the country to work the precincts in battlegrounds states, including New Mexico, during the last 72 hours before the election. They need more NM volunteers to work their nearby neighborhoods to get out the progressive vote. for more information on how to volunteer. Howard Dean and Democracy for America are partnering with MoveOn in this effort. You know what to do. It's now or never.

Kerry Blog Features Albuquerque

Yesterday the Official Kerry Blog featured the Albuquerque canvassing/phone banking event this past Saturday. I was there and can verify that the place was positively packed with volunteers of all ages and from many places, all enthusiastic as hell about this race. Really inspiring.

The Kerry site also has a couple of boffo photos of Kerry campaigning with Bill Clinton today in Philadelphia where the crowd came in at 100,000 plus! Here's one of them below. Victory is ours. Victory is ours. Victory is ours.

(Top photo courtesy Kerry Blog. Bottom photo courtesy Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc. from Sharon Farmer.)

Support Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change in ABQ, Taos and SF

Two powerful speakers from a group in DC called Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change will be visiting New Mexico this week. These are non-partisan, very senior people from the world of diplomacy and the military who are criticizing the Bush administration's foreign policies and calling for Bush's defeat. The two individuals appearing here are Ann Wright and Brady Kiesling, who both resigned from their senior posts with the State Department last year in protest over the Iraq war.

Kiesling's letter of resignation received a great deal of national press when it was published in the New York Times and the Washington Post in March 2003. The perspective they bring -- from decades of work in the military and foreign service, gives a different angle to the disaster that is the Bush administration.

Click this link for more information on Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change. And here's a link to the resignation letter of Brady Kiesling as published in the New York Times. Click here for (Mary) Ann Wright's eloquent resignation letter.

The public events are:

Thursday, October 28, 7 PM, Albuquerque
University of New Mexico President's Election 2004 Forum Series
Mitchell Hall 101 (just south of the duck pond)

Friday, October 29, 6:30 PM , Taos
Ramada Inn (615 Paseo Del Pueblo Sur)
Sponsored by Peace Action New Mexico (PANM)

Saturday, October 30, 1:00 PM, Santa Fe
Unitarian Church (107 W. Barcelona Rd.)
Co-sponsored by PANM and the Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Church.

It would be great if these events are well attended, as the resulting media coverage could reach a lot of people who might reconsider their support for Bush and even consider voting for Kerry (or reconsider their decision whether or not to vote at all). Pass this information on to your friends, and come on out!

Kerry Wows Las Cruces ... and Anthony

has a couple of pages of photos from Kerry's rally in Las Cruces yesterday, October 23rd. The wildly enthusiastic crowd numbered more than 17,000 people! The Official Kerry-Edwards website has additional photos from the Las Cruces event, as well as a couple from the Pueblo, CO rally that same day.

The El Paso Times has a nice story on the Las Cruces event. And as described in this article, Kerry visited the Red Rooster Cafe in Anthony NM after the rally, with Gov. Bill Richardson and Lt. Governor Diane Denish in tow. Later, he attended Saturday night mass at St. Anthony's Catholic Church. ABC News also has a story on this.

I note that on the same day, Cheney held a closed event in Farmington NM with 1,300 people. You do the math . . . .

Oh, and be sure to check out Wolfpacks for Truth, wherein the wolves used in Bush's latest ad express their distain for how they were used and lied to! You can see the ridiculous "Wolves" ad at the Bush campaign website. Wash your hands after visiting. And toss a few dollars to one of these wolf conservation groups.

(Photo of Kerry in Las Cruces 10/24/04 courtesy of Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc. from Sharon Farmer. Click it for a larger image. Wolf photo courtesy of Wolfpacks for Truth.)

Republicans for Kerry and More

Click 'em and grin:

Long list:

Long list (5,000+):

Impressive list:

Short list:

Thanks to Nancy G. for sending this along and to Daily Kos for compiling these in their helpful Dkosopedia!

Another impressive list of Kerry supporters can be found at Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change. We just learned that several very distinguished members of this group will be speaking and organizing in Albuquerque from October 28th thru October 30th. I'll post more information soon.

(Photos courtesy of the picture gallery of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space at their Space4Peace site. Click photos for larger images.)

LAST CHANCE RALLY: Kerry at ABQ Civic Plaza, Tuesday 10/26!

Crowd of 30,000 at Minneapolis, 10/21/04. Photographer: Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc. from Sharon Farmer From the Kerry/Edwards Campaign. (Click for larger version.)

On Tuesday, October 26, the next President of the United States will be right here in Albuquerque! Please join thousands of New Mexicans in welcoming John Kerry to the Civic Plaza (Downtown), which could be his last visit to Albuquerque! Also in attendance will be Governor Bill Richardson, Senator Jeff Bingaman, Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish, Attorney General Patsy Madrid and others. Entertainment includes New Mexico native Tobias Rene and free Kerry gear. Gates open at 4:30 PM. The event is free and open to the public.

This election will determine the future of this country like none other in recent memory. Let’s show the rest of the country that New Mexico is ready to push John Kerry to victory on November 2. Come see John Kerry in Albuquerque this Tuesday at the Civic Plaza!

You may pick up your free tickets at any of the following locations:

New Mexico Victory 2004, State Office
3301 Central Avenue NE
Albuquerque, NM
(505) 256-2570

New Mexico Victory 2004, Rio Rancho
4300 Ridgecrest Drive
Rio Rancho, NM
(505) 804-7823

New Mexico Victory 2004, ABQ South Valley
2017 Yale Blvd.
Albuquerque, NM
(505) 243-2387

Northern New Mexico Victory 2004
947 West Alameda
Santa Fe, NM
(505) 982-5727

You can also download tickets at the Kerry website.

Thank you for all of your support and remember to vote early!
Marci Youngmark, Volunteer Coordinator
(505) 256-2570

The Real Deal (Romero) Versus a Placebo (Wilson)

Albuquerque's weekly Alibi endorsed Richard Romero in the Congressional District 1 race against Heather Wilson. Turns out that neither Heather nor her campaign manager showed up for their scheduled interviews with Alibi staff. Their editorial endorsing Sen. Romero describes Heather Wilson this way:

"Since Wilson won't answer our questions, we can only judge her on her voting record and campaign contributors. Based on that record, we see Wilson as a tool of the oil and gas industry, the pharmaceutical industry and above all the fiscally reckless and secretive White House. She is not independent—her votes are bought and paid for by corporate interests—and for Wilson to claim otherwise proves, in our opinion, that she thinks District One voters are gullible fools."

"A look at a few of Wilson's campaign contributors—more than $10,000 from Tom Delay's ARMPAC, $1,000 from Katherine Harris (Florida's former Secretary of State who certified the election for Bush before the votes were counted in 2000), $2,000 from Haliburton, $1,000 from El Paso Corporation (which wants to open New Mexico's pristine Valle Vidal, located in the Carson National Forest, to mining and coalbed methane development)—explains her politics well enough. To add insult to injury, Wilson opposes publicly financed elections, but mails her campaign literature at taxpayer expense. She talks about education being her "personal passion," but she refused to take a position during last year's education reform debate that led to millions of dollars in increased funding and the creation of a secretary of education. That's pitiful."

An excerpt of what the endorsement says about Romero:

"We're endorsing Richard Romero because he offers genuine, independent leadership that we believe reflects true New Mexico values. He devoted his professional career to education as a public school teacher, principal and assistant superintendent at APS. In short, nobody running for office knows the education needs of this district better than Romero. He's an Air force veteran who speaks passionately about veterans' affairs. He rightly criticizes Heather Wilson's absurd claims that the Bush administration's Medicare prescription bill helps seniors more than it panders to pharmaceutical companies."

Read more of their endorsement editorial here.

To learn more about Richard Romero, to contribute to his campaign or to sign up to be a volunteer, visit the Romero Campaign website. Sen. Romero has also been endorsed by Democracy for America's Dean's Dozens and Daily Kos's Kos Dozens, among many others.

(Photo courtesy Richard Romero campaign.)

Visualize Winning!

Band of Citizens offers a terrific set of video "Citizenflicks" to send to your friends to explain the importance of voting. Their latest one, provides an inspiring taste of what a Kerry win would bring. Check it out. And get psyched. Send it off to your online friends to get THEM psyched. We can win this thing IF we get all our people out to vote!

RECAP: NM Voting Information

NOTE: This post refers to the 2004 presidential election. For info on the 2008 election, see this post.

Here's a recap of what you need to know in order to vote in NM. You can access most of this information somewhere on this site, like the Voting section down a bit in the left-hand sidebar, but I thought I'd make it easy for you and put it all in one place.

VOTER REGISTRATION: You must have been registered to vote by October 5th (in your county clerk's office by October 7th) in order to vote in the November 2nd General Election. If you registered by mail, you should have included a photocopy of a valid ID with your registration. If not, you must provide the ID when you vote, including a photocopy of the ID in the outer envelope with your absentee ballot if you use one. This page at the Secretary of State's site has information about voter registration rules and the documents you may use for a valid ID.

ABSENTEE VOTING: From now until October 30th, you can vote early by absentee ballot. October 28th in the last day you can request an absentee ballot. You can get an application for an absentee ballot online or at various campaign offices and county clerk's offices. You must fill out the application and return it to the county clerk's office before October 28th. When they receive it, they will send you an absentee ballot that must be filled out EXACTLY according to instructions and mailed back or hand-delivered to the county clerk's office before October 30th.

Click for the online application for an absentee ballot. You can find the contact information and maps for the county clerk's office in every NM county at the following excellent site: Eager Voter Project.

EARLY VOTING AT SATELLITE LOCATIONS: Early electronic machine voting began October 16th and continues until October 30th in NM. In virtually every county you can vote at the county clerk's office and at least one other "satellite" location. You can click to take you to the Secretary of State's listing of early satellite voting places in each county and the hours they are open.

ELECTION DAY VOTING: On election day, November 2nd, polls around the state will be open from 7AM until 7PM. If you are in line by 7PM, you must be allowed to vote. To find the polling place for any precinct in New Mexico, click here for the Democratic National Committee's site and enter your zip code.

In Bernalillo County you can also go to the county clerk's office site for a listing of precinct polling places. In Sandoval County click here. In Santa Fe County click .

The NM Secretary of State's Office lists every polling place in the state by county and precinct. Your precinct is listed on your voter identification card. You can also call your county clerk's office to find out which precinct you are in. Again, the Eager Voter Project page provides contact information for every county in the state.

RIGHT TO A PROVISIONAL BALLOT: If you know you are registered to vote but your name doesn't show up on the precinct list when you go to vote on election day, you can insist on filling out a Provisional Ballot at your polling place. It will be determined later when the provisional ballots are counted whether you are actually a registered voter or not.

VOTER PROTECTION: A coalition of many civil rights organizations and People for the American Way provides a . If you encounter problems voting you can call their toll-free hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

Hispanic Americans who have questions about how to vote or about their voting rights can call a toll-free, bilingual, nonpartisan hotline at 1-888-839-8682 that's operated by The National Association of Latin American Elected Officials, Univision and the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund.

If you're interested in volunteering for a voter protection program, visit the People for the American Way's .

SAMPLE BALLOT AND INFO ON ISSUES, BALLOT QUESTIONS: The League of Women's Voters of New Mexico produces excellent, detailed voting guides and sample ballots each election for various counties. You can get a copy of their Guide in various locations around the state, or you can click here for an online version for your county as well as links to information on candidates and positions.

URGENT: ABQ Kerry Campaign Needs Your Help!

From the Kerry Campaign: Please join us for a very important event on Saturday, October 23, 2004. We will be testing our Election Day capabilities by getting out the Early Vote this Saturday in our Election Day Walk Through.

We are calling all volunteers to come to headquarters and help out! Meet at 8:30 a.m.

Canvass for Kerry:

-talk to newly registered voters and urge them, and in some cases drive them, to vote early;

-Call supporters and inform them of nearby early voting sites;

-Train volunteers and test our communication system so we can run a smooth operation on Election Day;

-Enjoy free breakfast and lunch;

-Feel good, because together we are going to win!

If you have limited time to give between now and November 2: these are the critical times - Saturday, October 23 and "Get out the Vote Weekend" (October 30, 31, and November 1) and Tuesday, November 2. We still need more volunteers and we still need to talk to many more voters, so sign up now if you haven't already - and pass this along to friends and family.

New Mexico is a MUST WIN state and we cannot rest until each and every potential Kerry vote is cast and counted.

Yours truly for the next 12 days!