Democracy for New Mexico

(Updated) Dean to Stay as DNC Chair; Obama Adds One of His Own

Dean at Dem event in Albuquerque not long after becoming DNC Chair

Update: Politico reports on more change at the DNC being instituted by Obama: "Beginning Thursday, the DNC will no longer accept checks from federal lobbyists or political action committees, mirroring the strict standard Obama adopted for his presidential campaign." Gotta love it. In another nod to transparency, Obama will allow at least one pool reporter in to cover his fundraisers. McCain holds only closed-door fundraisers and bans members of the media from attending.
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Great news. Do you think this would have gone this way had Clinton won? According to Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post, DNC Chair Howard Dean will remain in his current post as Obama moves to establish his influence within the Party apparatus as the Dem presidential nominee:

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) is moving quickly to put his imprint on the Democratic National Committee, offering a vote of confidence in current chairman Howard Dean while also installing one of his most senior political deputies in a leadership role at the party committee.

In the days since Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday night, there had been speculation that Dean might be removed in favor of a party chairman of Obama's choosing. Obama put that speculation to rest this morning.

"Senator Obama appreciates the hard work that Chairman Dean has done to grow our party at the grassroots level and looks forward to working with him as the chairman of the Democratic Party as we go forward," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton in a statement.

As I've said before, Obama is a supporter of Dean's 50-state strategy and grassroots focus within the Party, which I think was an important factor in his nomination victory. By keeping Dean on it shows that Obama believes the strategy will also be effective in the general election campaign. He'll add someone from his campaign in a leadership role at the DNC, of course, but I think it speaks volumes about Obama's respect for Dean that he's keeping Howard at the helm:

Although Obama is keeping Dean, he is also ensuring that one of the main pillars of his campaign is installed at the DNC. Paul Tewes, a longtime party operative who managed Obama's Iowa caucus effort, will take over the general-election strategy at the DNC, according to several officials briefed on the decision.

Dean will announce Tewes to the DNC staff this afternoon. No title for the nomadic political operative, who served as political director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the 2006 cycle, has been chosen.

Those close to the DNC's operations insist that no wholesale changes will occur at the party committee. Instead, the current staff will stay in tact while a number of Obama loyalists are added to bolster the committee's general election operation.

We all know that, had Clinton won, Dean would have been out as fast as it could be accomplished. We'd likely have had to deal with Terry McAuliffe as Chair once again, and every vestige of Dean's approach being swept out and replaced with the Clintonista-brand. What a thought.

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Tonight: Celebrate and Unify at the DFA-DFNM Meetup

One of our cakes from a previous celebration

This month's Albuquerque DFA-DFNM Meetup will be a get-together to celebrate our primary victories (and commisserate over losses), come together to unify for a win in November and hang out socializing and sharing treats.

We hope to see many of our candidates and folks from the campaigns and other groups that will be working hard to elect Democrats this year to share in the festivities. If any of you are reading this, come on down! This Meetup is about celebrating with fellow grassroots activists and getting motivated for the work we must do in the months to come if we want to turn New Mexico Blue, Blue, Blue! Change is coming. And we're fired up.

All are welcome. You can RSVP and/or join the group and get on the email list here. As always, tonight's Meetup is at the Social Hall of the First Unitarian Church on the SW corner of Carlisle and Comanche in Albuquerque. It begins at 7:00 PM.

Amigos Bravos: Two River Cleanups in Taos Area

From Amigos Bravos:
As part of National River Cleanup Week (June 1 – 8) Amigos Bravos is joining with three other local groups to organize two river cleanups in the Taos area. We are looking for volunteers to help with these cleanups!

June 7th — River Cleanup Sponsored By Centinel Bank, Water Sentinels of Taos, and Amigos Bravos

• When: Saturday, June 7, 2008. 8:30 AM to Noon (Cookout Afterward)
• Where: Meet at Centinel Bank Main Parking Lot 512 Paseo Del Pueblo Sur
• Why: To clean up portions of the Río Fernando and the Little Río Grande
• Bring/Wear: Water Bottle, Work gloves, hat, long sleeved shirt, long pants, sturdy shoes.
• Contact: Jim White, Telephone 758-6749, Email: jwhite@centinelbank.com

June 8th — River Cleanup Sponsored By Unitarian Congregation of Taos and Amigos Bravos

• When: Sunday, June 8, 2008. 12:30 to 3:00pm
• Where: Meet at 303 Este Es Rd. (look for Unitarian Sign)
• Why: To clean up portions of Arroyo de los Coyotes
• Bring/Wear: Water Bottle, Work gloves, hat, long sleeved shirt, long pants, sturdy shoes.
• Contact: Steve McElmury Telephone 758-9225, Email: Stevemcelmury@yahoo.com

Rivers are the lifeblood of New Mexico; they allow our communities to thrive. Arroyos are the veins and capillaries of our rivers, since what flows through the arroyos eventually ends up in our rivers and streams. The biggest source of pollution of our rivers is from non–specific sources like poor land management practices and household trash. Unfortunately, arroyos are often used as illegal dumps by people who cannot afford to dump at the landfill.

Communities can protect against pollution by creating buffers along rivers and providing incentives for the safe disposal of trash and old appliances. Meanwhile it falls on individuals, businesses, and community groups with civic pride to take on the cleaning up of trash that has made its way into our arroyos and rivers after heavy rains and driving winds.

Amigos Bravos is delighted to see interest and engagement from a diverse range of local groups in cleaning up our local watersheds. Three of these groups are joining with Amigos Bravos to act as stewards for our local rivers during National River Cleanup Week (June 1-June 8). Centinel Bank, Sentinels Ríos de Taos, and Amigos Bravos are joining together on June 7 for a trash cleanup of in Río Fernando and the Little Río Grande. On June 8 the Unitarian Congregation of Taos and Amigos Bravos will be conducting an arroyo trash cleanup of Arroyo de los Coyotes between Gusdorf and Maestas roads in Taos. We encourage all Taoseños to join us on these dates!

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Time to Get Off the Stage, Hillary

I didn't go to the Dem Party celebration at the Albuquerque Convention Center last night because I've been to a few where the tense excitement morphed into achey depression as too many losses scrolled across the tv screens. Even the balloons and cheese platters didn't help. I couldn't take another one like that, although it turned out to be just the opposite this time. Wonderful wins for so many I supported.

But last night I wanted to watch Hillary Clinton give her concession speech in prime time and start applying her clout to unifying the Party behind our candidate. I wanted to take in every nuance of Barack Obama stepping up to the podium in victory, making history in an arena full of faces showing amazement at the audacity of of the achievement. He did it. We did it. We won, against all odds. But it was not to be. In a petulant and selfish display of I, me, mine, Hillary refused to concede. And even though Obama gave another shining, spinetingling speech, Clinton's reality-challenged spectacle in New York managed to drain more than a bit of the dazzle from a night that should have been all Barack, and all unity.

I will never forgive her and I don't think any Dem worth his or her salt should ever forgive her either. To call her performance classless and without grace is to put it mildly.

Hillary Wants ...
The word is that she's angling for ... something. She claimed she just wants to make sure all those "invisible" people she alone represents (according to her, anyway) get the respect they deserve. Right. And how does SHE respect these folks? By asking them to dig into their already picked pockets and cough up more dough to pay her campaign debts. She's that shameless.

The Clintons earned, what is it, $129 MILLION dollars since Bill left office? And she's hounding her vaunted working class base for more money to pay for the delusional ego trip she's been on for months -- despite no reasonable chance of winning. Oh she's a champion of the down and out, isn't she?

I've long had problems with the DLC-brand of pseudo-Democratic politics triangulated by the Clintons. I've long resented how they've mocked Howard Dean and activists and the 50-state strategy. But now I've lost all respect for them. Every iota of respect.

No Way
Clinton's campaign has been leaking nonstop about her interest in the VP slot. I hope Obama has the sense and the strength not to bite. Can you imagine the clearly vindictive and spotlight-addicted duo playing second fiddle to Obama? No, I can't either. The specter of Bill and Hillary on the campaign trail or in the White House again -- haunting Obama -- is now beyond distasteful after last night's delusion-fest in New York. The Clintons have now officially jumped the shark. Hey Hillary, time to get off the stage. The votes are in. And you lost.

Do the Right Thing
And if Hillary won't do what's right for our candidate and our Party, she should be hounded out of the picture by every Dem with an ounce of clout. Now. Right now.

I'm glad to see that Tom Udall endorsed Obama, as did 17 others so far today. Now it's time for the rest of the Dem leadership to be brave and tell Hillary exactly what she needs to do to start rallying the Party around Obama. Enough is enough. Perhaps most importantly, Hillary's supporters need to give her the news. Finally, some are.

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NM-01: Heinrich to Take On White

Julie and Martin Heinrich savor last night's win

I'm pumped that Martin Heinrich won decisively in the Dem Congressional primary in New Mexico's First District yesterday, garnering 44% of the vote in a four-way race. Heinrich defeated two competitors with strong name recognition in the state, with Rebecca Vigil-Giron and Michelle Lujan Grisham getting about 23% each. Robert Pidcock trailed badly with only 8%, despite floating generous loans to his campaign to run TV ads in the final days before the election.

Now it's on to the general election, where Martin will face Bush-clone Darren White for the seat. This race, viewed as one of the premier Congressional contests in the nation, is gonna be a barnburner. Are  you ready to pitch in and make sure NM-01 turns Blue?

We do have some serious momentum on our side. As in races in other parts of the country, more Democrats voted in the NM-01 primary than Republicans -- even though the Republicans had a competitive U.S. Senate primary. A grand total of 49,516 Democrats cast their ballots in the First Congressional District race, while only 44,299 Republicans did the same. And if we do what we all know we need to do between now and the general election, we can do much better than that in turning out motivated Dems in November.

Heinrich (R) at podium at Pre-Primary Convention in March

In an email, Heinrich had this to say about his victory:

I couldn't have done it without you and Julie and I are truly humbled by your support.

... I want to take this opportunity to thank Rebecca Vigil-Giron and Michelle Lujan Grisham for a hard fought race. They are both good Democrats who are committed to bringing an end to the war in Iraq, providing health care to all Americans and rebuilding our economy. When it comes to our core values, we have much in common.

I'm proud to say that we ran a positive race focused on the issues that matter to New Mexico's families.

Last night was a great night to be a Democrat. Nationally and locally, our party is coming together. We're united and ready to defeat Republicans like Darren White, who represent the failed policies of George Bush and Dick Cheney.

If you haven't yet gotten involved in Martin's campaign, now's the time to make the plunge. If you were involved in his primary race, it's time to celebrate, take a deep breath, and dive right back into the work at hand. Visit Heinrich's website, consider donating some bucks and renew your pledge to volunteer some time to help get rid of the vestiges of the Bush agenda in NM-01 once and for all.

We've said BYE-BYE (go ahead, click) to Heather Wilson, and now we need to make sure Darren White doesn't take her place. It's a time for cleansing ....

DFA-Democracy for New Mexico has endorsed Martin Heinrich for Congress.

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Defenders of Wildlife Pledges to Help Udall Defeat Pearce

The U.S. Senate race in New Mexico between the GOP's Steve Pearce and Dem Tom Udall will pit one of Congress’ most anti-environmental members, Pearce, against on of its environmental champions. According to a release today by the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, Pearce’s nomination triggers a second phase of support by the group, which for several months has run a fully integrated, pro-Udall campaign involving extensive TV and radio ads and a growing door-to-door canvass, against both Pearce and Wilson.

“We’ve been pointing out since April that as U.S. Senators, both Pearce and Wilson would be bad for New Mexico. And, unfortunately, extremist ring-wing forces have now succeeded in nominating the one who would be the worst of the two,” said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of the Defenders Action Fund. “At least Wilson on rare occasion would vote against a special interest provision and to protect the environment. But Pearce is absolutely irredeemable. He never votes to protect the environment if big oil and other special interests want something else. He is an anti-environmental extremist in the true sense of the phrase.”

“Steve Pearce has a lot of explaining to do to New Mexico voters,” continued Schlickeisen. “He voted against fuel efficiency for cars and voted to give oil companies billions in tax breaks while New Mexicans are being squeezed at the gas pump.  He even voted to protect the makers of toxic chemicals that pollute the drinking water in his own district, all while accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from big oil companies. He has consistently served the special interests instead of the people’s interests.”

Defenders Action Fund has pledged to continue to expose the extreme anti-environmental record of Steve Pearce. Its new, multifaceted campaign focuses on Pearce’s record as he vies against Rep. Tom Udall, in the race for the U.S. Senate. 

“As a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Pearce is responsible for protecting our air, land and water,” added Schlickeisen, “but he has consistently done just the opposite.” 

While sitting on the House Natural Resources Committee, Pearce has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from big oil companies and has repeatedly voted against clean energy solutions and efforts to combat global warming, as well as voting to give oil companies billions in tax breaks.

In February, Defenders Action Fund announced its endorsement of Rep. Tom Udall in his bid for the U.S. Senate. As a House member, Udall has consistently given strong support to clean, renewable energy and other efforts to combat the harmful effects of global warming.

“There are huge energy and environmental problems facing New Mexico and the nation,” concluded Schlickeisen, “and it is vitally important that the political leaders New Mexico send to Washington be part of the solution and not part of the problem. There is no question that Steve Pearce, who is tied for the worst environmental record in Congress, is a big part of the problem.”

The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund (www.defendersactionfund.org) provides a powerful voice in Washington to Americans who value our conservation heritage. Through grassroots lobbying, issue advocacy and political campaigns, the Action Fund champions those laws and lawmakers that protect wildlife and wild places while working against those that do them harm.

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NM-Sen: Pearce Ekes Out GOP Primary Victory Over Wilson

Dem Tom Udall will be facing ultraconservative Repub Steve Pearce (right) in the U.S. Senate race in November. You can see Udall's primary night speech here, as he celebrated victory in a primary race where he was unopposed.

According to the AP, Heather Wilson has conceded the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate to Steve Pearce:

Congresswoman Heather Wilson has endorsed Congressman Steve Pearce in his bid for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Pete Domenici. ... Wilson said today in Albuquerque that Republicans have made their choice and she gladly accepts it. ... Wilson says she doesn't regret her decision to leave the U.S. House to seek the Senate seat. She says she doesn't know what she'll do next.

Pearce carried a steady 51-49% lead over Wilson into the wee hours last night, a margin that propelled him to victory this morning with 99% of precincts reporting.

According to the Albuquerque Journal:

As expected, Pearce dominated across his southern New Mexico district. The former owner of an oil services company in Lea County also won 57 percent of the vote in San Juan County, which is also home to the oil industry.

Wilson was strong in Bernalillo County, where she serves the 1st District, getting about 66 percent of the vote, but it was not enough to overcome Pearce's higher margins in his district. Wilson also had a strong showing in Los Alamos — home to the nuclear weapons lab where she accused Pearce of voting to cut federal funding and jobs — with 73 percent of the vote.

It's not clear whether retiring Sen. Pete Domenici's awkward and last-minute endorsement of Wilson did much to help her. If Domenici had come out earlier, appeared in TV ads with Wilson and worked at least parts of the state on her behalf, his endorsement probably would have packed some punch that could have made the difference in such a tight race. Thinking too much about his legacy, as many retiring politicos do, apparently caused Domenici to tread too lightly in this race. Not wanting to go out backing a loser, he ended up going out backing a loser because he waited too long to take a stand.

Now the battle begins. New Mexico's Senate race is expected to garner strong nationwide attention, with lots of nasty 527 action coming from the GOP side and millions spent on the campaigns. Pearce, though considered by many to be way too conservative for a statewide win, will fight tooth and nail for this seat with backing from the usual well-heeled donors on the right, as well as the DC Repub establishment.

If we want to turn this Senate seat Blue, we can't take anything for granted and we have to donate our time, our energy and our dollars to Tom Udall's campaign starting right now. Visit the Udall website and sign up today to be a part of one of the most important Senate campaigns in the nation this cycle.

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2008 New Mexico Primary Winners; Upset Victories for Griego, Keller, Chavez

Martin Heinrich wins NM-01 in 4-way race. Ben Ray Lujan handily wins NM-03. Still too close to call in NM-02 between McCamley and Teague, though Teague is in the lead and has claimed victory. McCamley hasn't conceded. There are a bunch of Dona Ana County precincts still outstanding, where McCamley draws his greatest support. Problems have been reported with getting these votes transported and counted so things are at a standstill. I think McCamley can still pull it out, IF he gets big numbers from those outstanding precincts. Go, Bill!

Griego, Chavez, Keller: Incumbent Topplers

But what can only be called upset victories by three Dem primary legislative race challengers in Albuquerque have really made my day (and night). They're a wonder to behold, beautiful to absorb, shocking to realize. Eric Griego, Tim Keller and Eleanor Chavez victorious over entrenched, status quo incumbents! Griego whomped Paul Taylor in SD 17. Keller positively crushed Shannon Robinson in SD 15. Chavez won by a smaller, but still very healthy margin, in HD 13. And because they won in heavily Dem districts, the three intrepid change agents have effectively won seats in the NM Legislature.

Stunning. All three ran terrific campaigns. All three will bring truly progressive values to Santa Fe. All three represent victories for the people over the special interests. DFA-Democracy for New Mexico endorsed all three, as did many other folks in the grassroots, progressive and union communities. This is a BIG win for the forces of clean government and reform.

Update: Check out this post by Marjorie at m-pyre about Eleanor Chavez and Silva's hit piece on her during the campaign. Nice shots of Eleanor in her youth with Cesar Chavez and with her campaign manager, Tomas Garduno.

Results available at NM Secretary of State and at KRQE-13 News and many other places. At 10:40 PM, here are some select results, winners in red:

NM-01 Dem Congressional Race
Martin Heinrich 44%
Rebecca Vigil-Giron 25%
Michelle Lujan Grisham 23%
Robert Pidcock 8%

NM-02 Dem Congessional Race
Bill McCamley 42%
Harry Teague 52%
Teague claiming victory but McCamley says too close to call

NM-03 Dem Congressional Race
Don Wiviott 27%
Ben Ray Lujan Jr. 41%
Benny Shendo Jr. 16%
Harry Montoya 11%
Jon Adams 3%
Rudy Martin 2%

Dem U.S. Senate Race: Tom Udall unopposed

Repub U.S. Senate Race
Heather Wilson 49%
Steve Pearce 51%

Dem NM State House District 13
Eleanor Chavez 54%
Dan Silva (incumbent) 46%

Dem NM State Senate District 15
Eric Griego 63%
James C. Taylor (incumbent) 37%

Dem NM State Senate District 17
Tim Keller 66%
Shannon Robinson (incumbent) 34%

Bernalillo County Clerk
Maggie Toulouse Oliver 70%
Ambrose Chavez 30%

More results:

NM-02 GOP Congressional Race
Aubrey Dunn 20%
C. Earl Greer 10%
Edward R. Tinsley 31%
Monty Newman 21%
Greg Sowards 18%

Dem NM State Senate District 11
Linda Lopez 53%
Michael Padilla 47%

Tough race for John Blair against Eichenberg, who's much better known in Dem circles, even though Blair got the Albuquerque Journal's endorsement and campaigned very hard. Mr. Blair, you must run again for something soon. We need you in office.

Dem NM State Senate District 15
John Blair 40%
Tim Eichenberg 60%

Buh bye, Dan!

GOP NM House District 57
Dan Foley (incumbent) 46%
Dennis Kintigh 54%

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NM-Sen: Who Will Face Tom Udall?

The folks at the Tom Udall campaign shot the video above of Tom giving his primary night speech at the Dem Party's celebration at the Albuquerque Convention Center. No suspense in this race; Udall ran unopposed after Albuqurque Mayor Martin Chavez entered the race briefly when Pete Domenici announced his retirement, and then withdraw when Tom threw his hat in the ring after much urging from the netroots and many others. One of Udall's main points: we can't take this race for granted.

As of 1:05 AM, the battle between Steve Pearce and Heather Wilson on the GOP side is still too close to call. With 92 percent of precincts reporting statewide, Pearce led with about 51 percent of the vote to Wilson's 49 percent, according to unofficial results. We should know by morning?

Hey Bo Diddley: Now He's Gone

Bo Diddley (Elias McDaniels)
December 30, 1928 - June 2, 2008

I have to pause in my political coverage to honor Bo Diddley, who passed away yesterday at the age of 79. I first heard Bo Diddley's music as a young kid, on a rickety mono record player (as we used to call them) in the basement of our house in Chicago. My cousin and I used to dance to his mesmerizing Bo Diddley Beat and jump around crazily without any adults around to make us stop. How did this happen? We were two very young white girls living in a strongly blue-collar neighorhood where Frank Sinatra, Pat Boone and the Everly Brothers were it in that era.

Turns out my Italian Uncle Vito happened to drive a truck for a more than vaguely syndicate-connected outfit (as almost all trucking companies in Chicago were in those days). One of his pickup and delivery stops was at Chicago's famous Chess Records (with its studio at 2120 South Michigan, like the Stones' song of that name, recorded there in 1964). The Chess brothers had a fondness for my Uncle so they used to give him "free samples" of their records and he, in turn, passed them on to us because he certainly had no interest in "colored music," as it was called in that era. Bo Diddley's releases were among them, and we loved them. Who could resist that thumping beat or shouting along with the chant-like words?

Above, Bo's doing one of my favorite songs of his -- Mona -- with Tom Petty at the Fillmore. By the way, the early Stones borrowed a lot from Diddley, including Mick's use of maracas and a cover of Mona that appeared in the U.S. on their album The Rolling Stones, Now.

Bo in the 1966 TNT movie with The Duchess on second guitar

The Stones, along with other British invasion groups, recorded a number of songs at Chess Studios. As young teens, my girlfriends and I got to see the Stones record a bit of Little Red Rooster there. We also got into a recording session with the Yardbirds at Chess, but I can't recall what they were recording anymore.

How did we do it? We had fake press cards printed up saying we wrote for some teen magazine. I'm not kidding. This writing thing started way back then. And yes I admit that, at the time, my friends and I looked very much like the girls in the video from the TNT movie. We did prid ourselves, however, in not being screamers. We were journalists, you know. And we actually did get interviews with a couple of the Brit groups published in Tiger Beat or some such fan mag. Now you know the truth. It's out there.

By the way, Diddley lived in Los Lunas, NM in the 1970s and Denise Tessier at NMI has a nice piece about Bo's New Mexico roots.

I think the world's a little sadder place without Bo's unique, square guitars pounding out the Bo Diddley Beat and hypnotizing everyone in the process, don't you?

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