Democracy for New Mexico

Albuquerque Sighting: CNN Express Yourself Tour

It's no surprise that New Mexico is one of the most important states in the nation during this election cycle. With three House seats and one Senate seat up for grabs and another tight presidential race shaping up here, we're already getting lots of attention from the national press, bloggers, pundits, political analysts and TV talking heads. There'll be much more to come as we inch closer to November 4th.

John Blair, Obama New Mexico's Political Director, told the DFA-DFNM Meetup last night that New Mexico is ranked Number 6 on Obama's list of vital battleground states. The campaign will be focusing much attention on New Mexico and devoting a ton of resources here from now until election day.

You never know who or what you're going to run into on any given day in our moving-to-all-Blue state. This morning, Mary Ellen ran into the CNN Express Yourself Tour trailer parked near her workplace. The trailer is traveling around the country seeking out and interviewing first time voters as part of CNN's League of First-Time Voters project. It'll be exploring Albuquerque all day today looking for newbies, including a stop outside Isotopes Park starting at 5:00 PM.

If you're a new voter, you can also submit your own video with questions you have about the election at the League's web page. Selected videos will be featured on CNN's Election Center broadcast weekdays.

Photos by M.E. Broderick. Click on photos for larger versions.

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McCain Will Reward Supporters Who Plant Comments on Blogs

You can't make this stuff up. The McCain campaign is now using online tactics similar to those reportedly employed by the Chinese government. They're rewarding supporters who plant comments on designated blogs that echo Johnny's talking points:

On McCain's website, visitors are invited to "Spread the Word" about the presumptive Republican nominee by sending campaign-supplied comments to blogs and Web sites under the visitor's screen name. The site offers sample comments ("John McCain has a comprehensive economic plan . . .") and a list of dozens of suggested destinations, conveniently broken down into "conservative," "liberal," "moderate" and "other" categories. Just cut and paste.

For each positive, verified comment they post, McCain's citizen spinners earn points that count towards prizes like books autographed by McCain, preferred seating at campaign events or a ride with the MCain on his bus. The campaign suggests posting on the liberal blogs ColoradoPols, Crooks and Liars, DailyKos, MyDD and Think Progress. I guess McCain's pollsters are especially worried about Colorado.

Mario Burgos in the Mix: Believe it or not, under the category of "Other," the campaign suggests that comments be inserted at the Albuquerque right-wing blog, Mario Burgos. Okay, what I wanna know is why no suggestion to plant comments at Democracy for New Mexico? I'm feeling a little left out. Get it, LEFT out.

As the Washington Post notes:

... dissidents alleged earlier this year that the Chinese government has paid Chinese citizens token sums for each favorable comment about government policies they post in chat rooms and on blogs.

In good company, Johnny! And I'm sure all the Dems at DailyKos will be overcome with the beauty and logic of your positions and switch right over to your side. If you're gonna dream, dream big.

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McCain Shows His True Colors: Thinks Cindy Should be Miss Buffalo Chip

The McCains at Sturgis, and shots from the "beauty contest"

The trad media loved Johnny and Cindy at the Sturgis SD biker rally:

As the senator made his way through a sea of motorcycle enthusiasts, shaking hands with the many veterans in attendance and accompanied by his wife Cindy and Sen. John Thune, he was surrounded by scores of beer drinking men and scantily clad women, many of whom were as thrilled to see the war hero candidate as they were to watch Kid Rock perform later in the evening.

... Indeed, McCain felt so comfortable at the event that he even volunteered his wife for the rally’s traditional beauty pageant, an infamously debauched event that’s been known to feature topless women. “I encouraged Cindy to compete,” McCain said to cheers. “I told her with a little luck she could be the only woman ever to serve as first lady and Miss Buffalo Chip.”

I guess Mr. and Mrs. Family Values don't know what really goes on in Sturgis during the annual biker gathering. Or maybe they do. Some of the debauchery so prevalent there has more than a little in common with the drunken, womanizing behavior of "Top Guns" like McCain back in the day -- the era so many right-wingers yearn for. I wonder what the "moral majority" types think about the McCains hanging with the nasty, damned sinners. I wonder what straightlaced (at least in public) GOP Senate candidate Steve Pearce and oh-so-holy NM-01 candidate Darren White think about it. Law and order! The hypocrisy on the right side is almost beyond contemplation at times, isn't it?

Was McCain's behavior surprising? No way. He has a long tradition of denigrating women. Remember his joking about how they like to be raped by animals, or his making misogynistic jokes about Chelsea Clinton and the US Attorney General or how he called his wife a trollop and a c@nt? He's a good ol' boy, ain't he? Oh those dad-gum 'Merican values! No wonder all those males who like to think of themselves as "socially conservative" like him so much. They hate the gays but they love the misogyny....

Personally, I have no problems with what happpens in Sturgis or bikers in general. To each his (or her) own as long as they don't bother me. We happened to be traveling through South Dakota one time when the bikers were riding to Sturgis, and it was a hoot seeing them. But McCain holds himself up as a paragon of morality and so do many in his party. How does this campaign stop and what he had to say there jibe with that?

Imagine how the entrenched media would handle a visit by Barack and Michelle to Burning Man. Gasp. But if they covered that the way they covered the McCains in bikeland, it might read something like this (must read).

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Moderators for Prez & VP Debates Released

The Commission on Presidential Debates just the moderators for its three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate. The CPD had previously the dates and sites of the events. Unfortunately (and inexplicably), not one event will occur in the Mountain West or on the West Coast and no-one from ABC News will be participating:

First presidential debate:
Friday, September 26
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
Jim Lehrer, Executive Editor and Anchor, The NewsHour, PBS

Vice presidential debate:
Thursday, October 2
Washington University in St. Louis, MO
Gwen Ifill, Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and Moderator and Managing Editor, Washington Week, PBS

Second presidential debate (town meeting):
Tuesday, October 7
Belmont University, Nashville, TN
Tom Brokaw, Special Correspondent, NBC News

Third presidential debate:
Wednesday, October 15
Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
Bob Schieffer, CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent, and Host, Face the Nation

Lehrer, Ifill and Schieffer all moderated debates in 2004, with ABC News' Charles Gibson also running one that year.

Centre College in Danville KY and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem NC will serve as backup sites. The formats will be as follows:

• Each debate will have a single moderator and last for 90 minutes.

• In the first and third presidential debates and the vice presidential debate, the candidates will be seated with the moderator at a table.

• One presidential debate will focus primarily on domestic policy and one presidential debate will focus primarily on foreign policy. The second presidential debate will be held as a town meeting in which citizens will pose questions to the candidates. The vice presidential debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics.

• During the first and third presidential debates, and the vice presidential debate, the time will be divided into eight, ten-minute segments. The moderator will introduce each segment with an issue on which each candidate will comment, after which the moderator will facilitate further discussion of the issue, including direct exchange between the candidates for the balance of that segment.

• The participants in the town meeting will pose their questions to the candidates after reviewing their questions with the moderator for the sole purpose of avoiding duplication. The participants will be chosen by the Gallup Organization and will be undecided voters from the Nashville, Tenn. standard metropolitan statistical area. During the town meeting, the moderator has discretion to use questions submitted by Internet.

• Time at the end of the final presidential debate will be reserved for closing statements.

Looks like Independent Ralph Nader, Libertarian Bob Barr, Green Cynthia McKinney will face difficulties in being included in the events. And don't even mention Ron Paul and his Campaign for Liberty.

The CPD site provides the that will be used to determine which candidates can participate in the debates. In a nutshell, each participating candidate must be constitutionally eligible, appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to have a mathematical chance of winning a majority vote of the electoral college and have 15% support in national polls before the debates.

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Guest Blog by Alex Flores: Marty's At It Again

This is a guest post by Alex Flores, who blogs at Alex on Politics. Alex is from Corrales, NM and will start work on a Master's at Princeton this Fall.

I've only been in politics a short time but it hasn't taken long to start associating Martin Chavez with Joe Leiberman. Both are the type to disparage other Democratic candidates for personal gain. A few days ago, the always-excellent web reporter Heath Haussamen wrote a piece quoting Martin Chavez - here are my favorite excerpts:

1. "The real question in my mind is whether Senator Obama is going to be able to capture Hispanics by a significant margin," Chávez was quoted in the article as saying. "That's a big 'if,' because he's clearly an urbanite."
2. "(Obama) walked into the Flying Star and did an event with the latte crowd," the magazine quoted the mayor as saying. He added that Obama needs to "get outside Albuquerque."
3. He pointed out to the news magazine that, when Obama recently visited Albuquerque, he met at a coffeehouse with working women but didn't reach out to Hispanics. Chávez said Obama probably has the edge in New Mexico but has yet to make his case with Hispanics.

Let's address these in order!

1. First of all - how is being an "urbanite" relevant to public policy and running for office? It's not. It has nothing to do with being President of the United States and it has no place in the ongoing discourse. But I'll play anyway: Mayor Chavez - he's an "urbanite" too! Here's what I found on his upbringing:

Born in Albuquerque and of Hispanic heritage, Chávez attended both parochial (St. Charles Borromeo and Holy Ghost) and public (Van Buren Junior High and Manzano High) schools. After graduating from Manzano High School, Chávez earned a Bachelor's Degree from the University of New Mexico and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University, following in the footsteps of his father.

Well, the Mayor should know that Albuquerque isn't the smallest town in the west. In fact, we're a huge city! It wasn't always this big, due in some part to his leadership, but he's still not exactly a country bumpkin. Albuquerque currently ranks around 34th in US cities with about 520,000 people - making us bigger than Sacramento, Omaha, Miami, Oakland, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Pittsburg, Newark, and Orlando - just to name a few (data as of ). Wasn't it under Mayor Marty's leadership that Albuquerque was named to Forbes magazine's list as the number-one place to do business?

Mayor Chavez grew up here - and he governs here. He also spent a few years, like me, in Washington DC. So let's stop calling the kettle black and own up to our own identities. This attack angle just isn't going to work for him.

2. Obama needs to get outside Albuquerque? That's advice to someone about how to win a statewide election. But the history isn't really on the Mayor's side (we'll tie number 3 back into this one, too). In 1998, he ran against Gary Johnson to be Governor of the state and lost, 55-45. Recently, he considered running for Governor but decided he couldn't beat Lt. Governor Diane Denish. So he switched over to the Senate race, and before the Primary ever got under way - was already losing to Tom Udall - an undeclared candidate - by 30 points.

Marty has been a great Mayor - his biography on the Albuquerque website and the tangible benefits of growth we see all around us are testaments to that. He's just not the authoritative source on statewide elections or how to win them.

3. Obama has yet to make his case with Hispanics. Really? Ok, let's go back to number 2. In 1998, Chavez was the Hispanic who ran against Republican Johnson. He was the de facto Hispanic candidate against Denish for 2010. Chavez was the headline Hispanic candidate against Don Wivviot and Tom Udall for the Democratic nomination for Senate this year. Every time, he lost - as the sole major Hispanic candidate in the race. The 98 race was lost by 10. The 08 Senate race is more recent - here are the 5 polls I remember:

• SurveyUSA Poll #12737, between 10/05-10/07, 2007, commissioned by KOB-TV, shows Udall beating either Republican candidate for Senate and Chavez only competitive.
• SurveyUSA Poll #12878, between 10/27-10/30, 2007, commissioned by Roll Call newspaper, Washington DC. Chavez beats both Rep. Wilson and Rep. Pearce but within the margin of error.
• Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, between 10/23-10/27, 2007, shows Chavez losing to Udall in a 3-way race, 50%-30% with Udall winning Hispanics by 8 points.
• Research 2000, between 11/05-11/07, commissioned by DailyKos, shows Chavez losing to both Pearce and Wilson but within the margin of error.
• SurveyUSA Poll #12979, between 11/16-11/18, 2007 commissioned by KOB-TV, shows Udall over Chavez for the Democratic Senate nomination, 62%-32%. In this poll, Chavez tied Udall among Hispanics.

So maybe Mayor Chavez isn't the biggest authority on how to reach Hispanic voters, either. Especially not after this:

According to a nationwide survey by the reputable Pew Hispanic Center of 2,015 Latinos in June and July, registered Latino voters support Barack Obama for President over Republic John McCain by 66%-23%!

Want more? Here's more of my analysis from when the poll was released. More numbers about Obama and Hispanics follow later in this post. Let's not forget that Senator Obama is spending more money and resources to register Latinos to vote and get them to the polls than any other candidate in HISTORY. Period. Let's not forget that back in September of 2007, Obama appointed former Denver Mayor and Clinton Cabinet Secretary Federico Pena to be national co-chair of the campaign. Or that in February of 2007, when the campaign began, Obama appointed Cuauhtemoc "Temo" Figueroa to be the NATIONAL Field Director. Previously, you may recall, Temo was the Administrator of AFSCME Council 18 - RIGHT HERE IN NEW MEXICO!

And lastly, let's not forget Senator Obama's commitment to do more in the Latino community than any other Presidential candidate in history; in July, the campaign launched a massive $20 million Latino Vote program. The program will greatly benefit New Mexico and a number of other states. After all of that - here's why I'm really angry with Mayor Chavez. This kind of underhanded attack against members of his own party rings all-too familiar. Remember that article in The Politico from November 10, 2007? Jog your memory:

In an interview with Politico on Saturday, Chavez said his achievements as mayor would compare well with what he called Udall's lackluster record in the House. [You can read why this simply isn't true here.]

And this from Steve Terrell, a New Mexico reporter, on November 8, 2007:

"Philosophically, he's so far to the left," Chávez told Las Cruces political blogger Heath Haussamen last month. In an interview with the Washington, D.C., publication Roll Call published Thursday, Chávez said, "The contrast in records between me and the Congressman won't situate him well for the general election."

Well Mayor Chavez might have been right - Udall was farther left, but the voters approved of it. Now, the Mayor is falling back into his same old habits - attacking those who he doesn't support or agree with - even if they all call themselves Democrats. So Mayor - please stop spending time attacking Democrats who aren't voting against our Party's values. Please stop attacking Democrats for personal gain. And please stop speaking as an authority where you haven't thought it all through. Here are more numbers from the Pew Poll:

Three times as many respondents said being black would help Obama (32%) with Latino voters than said it would hurt him (11%); the majority (53%) said his race would make no difference to Latino voters.

Obama is rated favorably by 76% of Latino registered voters, making him much more popular among that voting group than McCain (44% favorable) and President Bush (27% favorable). Hillary Clinton's ratings among Latino registered voters are 73% favorable and 24% unfavorable; Obama's are 76% favorable and 17% unfavorable. Also, more than three-quarters of Latinos who reported that they voted for Clinton in the primaries now say they are inclined to vote for Obama in the fall election, while just 8% say they are inclined to vote for McCain. That means that Obama is doing better among Hispanics who supported Clinton than he is among non-Hispanic white Clinton supporters, 70% of whom now say they have transferred their allegiance to Obama while 18% say they plan to vote for McCain, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Latino registered voters rank education, the cost of living, jobs and health care as the most important issues in the fall campaign, with crime lagging a bit behind those four and the war in Iraq and immigration still farther behind. On each of these seven issues, Obama is strongly favored over McCain--by lopsided ratios ranging from about three-to-one on education, jobs, health care, the cost of living and immigration, to about two-to-one on Iraq and crime. In addition to their strong support for Obama, Latino voters have moved sharply into the Democratic camp in the past two years, reversing a pro-GOP tide that had been evident among Latinos earlier in the decade. Some 65% of Latino registered voters now say they identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, compared with just 26% who identify with or lean toward the GOP. This 39 percentage point Democratic Party identification edge is larger than it has been at any time this decade; as recently as 2006, the partisan gap was just 21 percentage points.

This is a guest blog by Alex Flores of Corrales. He currently is a member of the Platform and Resolutions Committee of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. He'll serve the New Mexico delegation as a page at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on August 25-28. Also check out Alex's previous guest blog on DFNM.

Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their opinions on pertinent political issues. If you'd like to submit a piece for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand corner of the page.

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Saturday: Grand Openings & Phone Banking Set for 16 New Obama Offices in NM

The Obama Campaign for Change in New Mexico announced that grand openings at 16 new offices across the state will take place on Saturday, August 2, 2008. See below the break for a complete listing of Obama campaign offices that will open tomorrow. Has another presidential campaign ever had this many campaign offices in the Land of Enchantment? I don't think so. The McCain campaign will be hard pressed to compete with this effort.

Following this weekend the Obama campaign will have a total of 17 offices across the state. In a statement, they said they'll work to harness the enthusiasm of Obama's grassroots-level supporters and organize them in communities across New Mexico -- neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend and colleague to colleague -- working for the benefit of Democratic candidates up and down the ticket. 

Those wishing to attend should visit this page for more details about the grand opening celebrations and/or participating in phone banking on Saturday.

According to the Obama campaign, these office openings are a perfect way to learn about their strategy in New Mexico and get to know fellow supporters. Making calls will help you introduce the movement for change to friends, family, and neighbors in your community. No previous experience is necessary to get involved. All you need is a hunger for change and a willingness to turn your enthusiasm into action.

Locations and Times for Grand Openings:

Albuquerque - Volunteer Headquarters
3523 Central Avenue NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
6:00 PM

Albuquerque - Northeast Office
10200 Menaul Boulevard NE, Suite 200
Albuquerque, NM 87112
6:00 PM

Alamogordo Office
1517A 10th Street
Alamogordo, NM 88310   6:00 PM

Anthony Office
880 Anthony Drive, Suite 13
Anthony, NM 88021
3:00 PM

Bernalillo Office
240 South Camino del Pueblo
Bernalillo, NM 87004  6:00 PM

Carlsbad Office
201 North Canal Street
Carlsbad, NM 88220
6:00 PM

Clovis Office
305 North Main Street
Clovis, NM 88101
6:00 PM

Farmington Office
208A West Main Street
Farmington, NM 87401
6:00 PM

Las Cruces Office
255 East Lohman Ave
Las Cruces, NM 88001
6:00 PM

Las Vegas Office
1801 7th Street
Las Vegas, NM 87701
6:00 PM

Los Alamos Office
2610 Trinity Drive, Suite 22
Los Alamos, NM 87544
6:00 PM

Raton Office
101 North 3rd Street
Raton, NM 87740
6:00 PM

Rio Rancho Office
4100 Southern Boulevard SE, Suite 6
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
6:00 PM

Roswell Office
105 West 3rd Street, Suite 317
Roswell, NM 88201
6:00 PM

Santa Fe Office
720 Saint Michaels Drive, 2-N
Santa Fe, NM 87505
6:00 PM

Silver City Office
503 North Bullard Street
Silver City, NM 88061
6:00 PM

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Obama Slams McCain-Bush Economy

The economy may well be the issue that will bring us victories up and down ticket this year. Obama gives it to Bush-McSame but good (and by implication, Steve Pearce, Darren White, Ed Tinsely et al.) in the clip above. Here's the prepared text of Obama's complete remarks at the townhall meeting on the economy in Springfield, MO today.

Do watch Sen. Claire McCaskill's intro that calls out the trad media for their negative and inaccurate characterizations of Obama. Then continue if you want to watch the whole town hall.

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Thursday: Labor & Environment Groups to Parody McCain & Pearce’s Pro-Industry Energy Plans

Are you in the mood for some lampooning? Some satire? Some pointed parody? Feeling so upset about how things are going that you need to laugh or you'll cry? This is the event for you. I'm informed that New Mexicans affiliated with labor and pro-environment groups will gather on Thursday, July 31st, to highlight Big Oil’s latest round of billions in quarterly profits -- at a time when people are paying record prices at the pump.

Donning their tiaras and puffing their cigars, a troupe of ‘Big Oil Billionaires for McCain & Pearce’ will be on hand to toast John McCain’s plan for a $3.8 billion tax cut for the top five oil companies. They'll be sniveling over Barack Obama’s plan for an immediate $1,000 tax cut to provide American consumers with real relief, while putting us on the path to energy independence through a $150 billion investment in clean, renewable energy. The troupe will also raise a glass to Rep. Steve Pearce for voting time and again to extend and maintain billions in tax cuts for the oil and gas industry, while opposing any increase in fuel efficiency standards -– all for only about $650,000 in campaign contributions. Be there tomorrow to join in the revelry:

• WHERE: ConocoPhillips gas station, Lomas & San Pedro (6121 Lomas Blvd, NE), ABQ
• WHEN: Thursday, July 31, 2008 – 4:30 PM

WHAT: Visibility event – including the ‘Big Oil Billionaires for McCain & Pearce’ troupe – on oil companies’ record profits and McCain & Pearce’s pro-industry energy plans   

WHO: Sierra Club, AFL-CIO International, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, and AFSCME Council 18

VISUALS: ‘Big Oil Billionaires for McCain & Pearce’ troupe, mock gas station sign with top 3 oil companies’ profits and other informative graphics on presidential & senatorial candidates’ energy plans

According to event organizers, the largest oil companies are together expected to post more than $35 billion in profits for the second quarter alone –- putting them on pace to exceed last year’s all-time high of more than $123 billion. The event will also draw attention to campaign contributions that John McCain and Steve Pearce took from oil companies, and expose how their energy plans stand to benefit Big Oil rather than hard-working consumers.

Don't miss it. It's not often that we get tiaras, cigars and billionaires in one place in this town!

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Deadline Nears for Dem Convention YouTube Contest

You have until August 1 to submit a short video (2 minutes or less) at YouTube on "Why I Am A Democrat in 2008," and enter the DNC contest described above by Chairman Howard Dean. Not only will the winner travel to Denver for the Convention, but the winning video will be shown to the Convention audience including elected officials and delegates. On top of that, the winner will also travel with Senator Obama’s campaign for a day, documenting life on the campaign trail.

A multitude of creative and powerful entries from across the country have already been uploaded. Click for examples here and here.

Even if you don't submit a video, you can view and rate the submissions here. Also check out videos by Gov. Bill Richardson and former mayor Federico Peña on why they're Democrats. They can't win the contest but you can -- if you upload your video by August 1st. Tick tock.

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Dems to Spend $20 Million to Mobilize Hispanic Voters

The Washington Post reports that the DNC and Obama are set to unveil a $20 million effort to register and mobilize Hispanic voters in a number of states, including New Mexico:

DNC Chairman Howard Dean said the sum is unprecedented for a presidential campaign and represents a show of Democratic confidence that Latino voters could prove pivotal in states including New Mexico and Michigan. [...]

Targets will include Florida; Western states such as Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico; and Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, industrial battlegrounds with sizable Hispanic populations. The money will be spent on niche advertising and other outreach, along with mobilization efforts aimed at identifying, registering and turning out new Democratic voters.

Over the weekend, the campaign held a training session in Las Vegas to teach local organizers how to canvass Hispanic communities. A similar forum will be held soon in Florida, Dean said, and sessions in other states are in the planning stages.

... The investment is intended to benefit other Democratic candidates as well, including high-profile House and Senate races in Colorado, New Mexico and Florida.

Meanwhile, McCain isn't doing so hot with Latino voters despite his campaign's claim that, "We've been doing all that," McCain spokeswoman Hessy Fernandez said of Obama's efforts.

Although Republican rival John McCain represents Arizona, a state with a strong Hispanic presence, Dean cited a poll last week by the Pew Hispanic Center showing Obama's approval rating with registered Latino voters at 66 percent nationwide, compared with 23 percent for McCain.

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