Reliable Source: Tom Udall to Enter U.S. Senate Race

Rep. Tom Udall (R), his wife Jill Cooper Udall (L) and Tom's father, former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall (C), with their paper ballots on election day 2006

According to a post yesterday on Heath Haussamen's blog, Rep. Tom Udall (NM-03) will soon announce his entry into the race for the Dem nomination for U.S. Senate in New Mexico. The report is based on leaks from "reliable sources" that Udall has been calling "Dem insiders" and "some county party chairs" this week to inform them he's running. At last Saturday's Dem Party State Central Committee meeting, Udall indicated he'd be making his decision within two weeks.

Today's Albuquerque Journal featured a front-page article by Michael Coleman about Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez's responses to a potential run by Udall. Not surprisingly, Chavez says he''ll stay in the Senate race no matter what. Some have interpreted Udall's delay in officially announcing his Senate run as providing some time for Chavez to exit gracefully in the face of a challenge from a highly popular and proven statewide vote getter. No dice. By all accounts, grace is not one of Chavez's strong points.

As reported in Coleman's story,

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez said Friday that speculation that he might drop out of the U.S. Senate race if Rep. Tom Udall gets in is just wishful or wrong-headed thinking. "That's someone's wishful thinking or else someone's mistaken speculation," Chávez said in a telephone interview Friday. ... "I'm in the race," Chávez said. "I believe in this race."

Meanwhile, the Udall camp had this to say in the Journal story:

Tom Nagle, Udall's chief of staff in Washington, said Friday that the congressman is close to announcing his decision— possibly as soon as next week. Nagle said Chávez's entry into the race hasn't factored into Udall's decision-making process. "It's not about the mayor; it's about who would be the best senator from New Mexico," Nagle said. "If he decides to run, Tom Udall believes that would be him."

Chavez was in Washington on Thursday for a meeting he requested with Sen. Chuck Schumer, who heads the DSCC, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He apparently failed to convince them to remain uninvolved or to support his run. It's been widely reported that Schumer and other Senate Dems have been less than impressed with Chavez's chances in the race and have been actively encouraging stronger, more popular Dems to consider running, including Lt. Gov. Diane Denish and Rep. Udall. The pressure on Udall to run appeared to increase exponentially as polling data emerged showing he'd wallop both Steve Pearce and Heather Wilson in the general election, and Denish officially announced she wouldn't mount a Senate run.

Chavez is clearly trying to define Udall as being first and foremost the DSCC's candidate -- implying New Mexicans aren't behind his run. Marty has alternately claimed that Udall is "too far to the left" to succeed in a Senate run or that he and Udall hold the same positions on almost every issue. Pick one. Now Chavez has stooped to criticizing Udall for considering leaving his Congressional seat and his place on the House appropriations committee:

Chávez suggested that Udall, who recently earned a coveted seat on the House appropriations committee, would be doing a disservice to New Mexico if he gave up that seat. "That means we would send three freshman representatives and one freshman senator," to Washington, Chávez said. "It will be the weakest delegation in the history of New Mexico in terms of seniority. They won't have the clout to change a roll of toilet paper."

Always the gentleman, isn't he?

Other Candidates
Other candidates in the Senate race include Dems Don Wiviott, Jim Hannan and Leland Lehrman, all from Santa Fe. These three brave souls entered the Dem primary race months ago, when incumbent Repub Sen. Domenici was still insisting he would run for another term, and no other Dems had the gumption to challenge Pete. Hannan, who ran thousands of dollars worth of newspaper ads critical of Domenici and then Wilson, has said he will withdraw if Udall runs. No word yet from Wiviott, whose campaign has raised more than $400,000 from donors and loans from the candidate. Wiviott has been criss crossing the state for months, working hard on gaining support for his candidacy and reaching out to Dems of all stripes. It appears that Lehrman intends to continue in the race.

When Udall officially announces, expect a free for all of candidates to emerge in NM-03 where Tom will be giving up his seat. It's getting to be the norm in this unique election cycle in New Mexico. One thing that's become evident is the depth of the Democratic bench. The excitement being generated statewide for an unprecedented, across-the-board changing of the guard in New Mexico's House and Senate delegation can only grow stronger.

Race News
By the way, one of the most active forces encouraging Udall's run for Senate has been DraftUdall.com, where you can sign a petition supporting Udall for Senate, donate to the effort via ActBlue and keep track of developments in the race. Other good sources of race info nationally include the blogs Senate2008Guru and SwingStateProject. Locally, HeathHaussamen in Las Cruces, as well as community blog , the bloggers three at m-pyre and La Politica vet JoeMonahan in Albuquerque, are always on top of things. More will be revealed.

To read our previous coverage of the 2008 U.S. Senate race in New Mexico, visit our archive.