Democracy for New Mexico

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?

2008 NM Primary: Sample Ballots, Polling Places for June 3rd Election, More

See our previous post for information and links for finding your polling place, sample ballot and more. Also check out the links under Voting Info on this blog's left-hand sidebar near the top for voting guides and more. I thought I'd repeat this because I've gotten almost 2000 more than 2100 2300 2985 3525 hits already by the time the counter shifted to another day at midnight GMT time, many of them looking for election info. Yesterday I got 1404 unique visitors and 3265 hits. People are definitely interested in this election.

More stuff:

**New Mexico FBIHOP is from New Mexico voters about their experiences at the polls today. Go share yours after you vote.

**NM-03 Dem candidate Ben Ray Lujan Jr.'s campaign will be live-blogging today about how the voting's going and more at their campaign blog.

**Check the Coming Events calendar on the right-hand sidebar on this page for various election night parties you're welcome to attend, including gatherings hosted by the Democratic Party of New Mexico, Don Wiviott, Ben Ray Lujan, Jr. and Tim Keller.

**Steve Olson and Bryan Barash of Tom Udall's campaign will be live-blogging and webcasting from tonight's Democratic Party of New Mexico election night celebration at the Convention Center in ABQ.

**New Mexico's U.S. Senate and House races are getting heavy attention from the national press and blogs. Take today's Real Clear Politics piece on "Battleground New Mexico," and yesterday's post by the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza reviewing and praising Martin Heinrich's ad, "George Bush Leaves NM Families in the Dust."

Clinton to Concede; Record Turnout for NM Primary? Tonight's the Night ...

... When the results of the last two Dem primaries in South Dakota and Montana come in and Hillary Clinton concedes to Barack Obama. It's now being reported that Clinton will acknowledge tonight that Obama has the delegates needed to secure the nomination, and effectively end her presidential bid. She'll be giving a speech in New York this evening, while Obama holds a huge victory rally in Minneapolis at the arena where the GOP will crown McCain at their convention this summer. His campaign will be revealing groups of endorsements throughout the day from superdelegates.

... When we finally learn whether Rep. Tom Udall will face Rep. Heather Wilson or Rep. Steve Pearce on the Repub ticket in the U.S. Senate race. A just-released SurveyUSA poll shows Pearce-Wilson in a dead heat on the eve of the election. We'll also see if a late endorsement from Sen. Pete Domenici will put Wilson over the top. Wilson would need a huge turnout in the Albuquerque area to win. SurveyUSA still has Udall trouncing Pearce 60% to 35% and Wilson 60% to 36% in November.

... When we see if a recent 11% edge in the polling numbers holds and Martin Heinrich beats out Rebecca Vigil-Giron, Michelle Lujan Grisham and Robert Pidcock to snag the Dem nomination for Congress in NM-01.

... When we discover if Bill McCamley's grassroots-fueled ground game beats Harry Teague's oil money run for the Dem nomination for Congress in NM-02. There's also a highly competitive race with gobs of money being spent on nonstop TV ads on the Repub side in this District. Will the winner be Ed Tinsley (the favorite), Aubrey Dunn, Earl Greer, Monty Newman or Greg Sowards? In a contest with this many candidates, anything can happen.

... When we learn who'll be the new U.S. Rep. in NM-03 in a fiercely fought, down-to-the-wire Dem primary contest between Don Wiviott and Ben Ray Lujan, Jr., with Benny Shendo, Jr. and Harry Montoya also expected to get some significant support. The winner of tonight's primary will undoubtedly win in November in the overwhelmingly Dem district.

... When we discover if clean government, reform-minded Dem challengers in Albuquerque area State Senate and House races can overcome the incumbent clout in races like those that pit Eric Griego vs. Sen. James C. Taylor, Tim Keller vs. Sen. Shannon Robinson and Eleanor Chavez vs. Rep. Dan Silva. And will John Blair snare the Dem nomination vs. Tim Eichenberg?

There are also many other legislative and county contests on the ballot, PRC primaries, and judicial races at the Metro, District and Supreme Court levels. A significant number of them are uncontested.

Where to Track Results
The polls in New Mexico close at 7:00 PM tonight. If the Secretary of State's website is, by chance, functioning correctly tonight, we should be able to track results there. Many county clerk websites will have county race results. Various New Mexico newspapers, radio stations and TV news outlets will also be providing comprehensive results on the air and on websites. I'll be linking to some of them later today when the results start coming in.

Record Turnout Expected in NM?
According to an article in today's Albuquerque Journal,

In the state's 2006 primary election, fewer than 181,000 Republicans and Democrats voted in the top-tier contests— a figure that represented less than 21 percent of eligible voters. Secretary of State Mary Herrera predicted Monday that the four open congressional seats this year will help drive a record turnout today.

"Voter turnout should be in the high 30s," Herrera said, referring to the percentage of registered voters expected to cast ballots today. "I'm expecting the highest turnout in history for a primary."

In Bernalillo County:

Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver said turnout is up significantly this year, based on early voting. Absentee balloting is about twice as heavy as usual, and the number of ballots cast at early-voting locations was up by about one-third, Toulouse Oliver said.

"Turnout is significantly higher for early and absentee (voters) compared to the 2004 and 2006 primary elections," she said.

Bernalillo County, the state's most populous, has mailed out roughly 22,000 absentee ballots— about 15,900 of which have been returned. About 7,500 are from Democrats, and about 8,400 from Republicans. About 17,200 people cast ballots at early-voting locations in Bernalillo County. Democrats totaled about 9,300 of the votes and Republicans about 7,900.

Update 3:00 PM: The reports coming in from precincts are mostly saying otherwise, describing light turnouts in many areas of the state. If true, it's a depressing development given what's at stake in this primary. Maybe we should start requiring people to pass a civics test before they can get a driver's license.

NM-Sen: Pearce Up in Poll; Domenici Contacting Voters to Support Wilson

Pete applauding Heather in 2006

Retiring Sen. Pete Domenici is contacting Repub voters around New Mexico this weekend to urge them to vote for Heather Wilson in the BOP primary for U.S. Senate to be held on Tuesday, June 3rd. Domenici recorded a personal message being used for robocalls. Peter St. Cyr has the scoop and the audio of Domenici's message on his new blog, Word for Word.

New Journal Poll
Could Domenici's last-minute endorsement of Wilson on Friday, coupled with his phone push over the weekend, make the difference in Wilson's race against Steve Pearce? The Albuquerque Journal today released polling results from a phone survey conducted on May 27-29 by Polling and Research Inc. that show Pearce ahead of Wilson, but close to the margin of error. The poll has Pearce up by six points over Wilson, at 45-39%, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4%. And given the unusually high percentage of undecideds, at 16%,  at this late stage of a race, anything can happen. Note, too, that the poll was conducted before news was made public that Domenici had endorsed Wilson.

As usual, the size of voter turnout and where it happens is also likely play a big role. As reported in the Journal:

• In the 1st District, where she has chalked up an impressive record of costly, hard-fought wins since taking office in 1998, Wilson had a 30-point advantage over Pearce— 57 percent to 27 percent.
     
• In the more conservative 2nd District, where he has served since 2003 and formerly was a state legislator from Hobbs, Pearce had a 41-point advantage— 64 percent to 23 percent.
     
• In the northern 3rd Congressional District, the contest was closer, but Pearce had a 9-point advantage: 46 percent to 37 percent.

In addition to strength in the South, "Pearce had sizable advantages in the northwest part of the state and on the east side. Several important northwest and east-side counties are included within the 3rd Congressional District." And "Wilson had a double-digit lead in the north-central part of the [third] district, which includes the cities of Santa Fe, Taos and Los Alamos."

Pearce beat Wilson in every age group except 65 and older, where 49% of voters favored Wilson, versus 39% for Pearce. Pearce and Wilson roughly split support among those with college degrees, but Pearce led among those with only some college experience and those with only a high school diploma.

More Explanation of Domenici's Endorsement
In another article today, the Journal quoted Domenici as saying he intended to stay neutral in the Senate primary race, but that his conscience kept "gnawing" at him to endorse Wilson:

"As I traveled around the state, I became more and more aware that Heather Wilson was not being depicted in the way that I know she is," Domenici said. "The thing that rancored me most was the major expenditure of money by the Club for Growth," he said. "They are out-of-state people who were having a great influence on who will win the election."

... Domenici also said Pearce's constant criticism of congressional spending rankled him. Domenici is widely known for bringing billions of dollars home to New Mexico from Washington.

"Every time I heard him talk about them (budget earmarks), I cringed," he said. "I think we've done some great things with them. To have one of my own running that way did not make me friendly."

(Click on photo for larger image. AP Photo by Jake Schoellkopf.)

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NM-Sen: Wilson-Pearce Debate Follies; Domenici Flip-Flops to Endorse Wilson

Last night's final debate between the "Common Sense Conservative" and the "Club for Growth Hero" consisted mostly of a rehash of already plumbed issues like who voted against what in terms of pork for New Mexico, who would drill the most for oil and do it quicker, who supports the highest fence at the border, which one is more "electable," and who wants to throw widows and children off Social Security.

Naturally, both candidates stood tall and recited the familiar mantra, with maximum gradiosity and moral certitude, that "marriage is between one man and one woman." I wish one of the soft-ball questioners would have asked them if they supported starving the widows (or widowers) and children of gay partners because federal Social Security benefits available to married couples are not available to gay couples. I really would have liked to hear their answers. But it was not to be.

I fail to see much value in any of the "debates" I've seen this season. The norm is that simplistic, banal questions are asked that permit each candidate to recite their memorized talking points, and then the topic is changed. Never any follow-up to throw the candidates off their rote recitations designed to convey as little as possible of any depth. Never any challenging of a distortion or muddied logic in an answer. Question - recitation - next question.

Take the gay marriage question. Does anyone paying attention believe that either Pearce or Wilson would say anything other than what they always say? Why ask a question when everyone already knows the answers that will be given? All it does is provide the candidates with another chance to repeat a wedge issue slogan. That's what passes for political discourse these days?

If you watched last night you'd have no idea that global warming, civil liberties, our right to privacy, FISA legislation, health care reform, "free" trade, the shredding of the U.S. Constitution or education improvements were issues being discussed in the real world. I thought even the Iraq occupation and "homeland security" got short shrift. I guess dealing with these kinds of issues would just take away from the main concerns of Republicans -- avoiding paying their fair share of taxes while grabbing the most defense and energy pork for their home state, and keeping the gay folks unmarried.

The Fumbled Endorsement
The giddiest response by the media and analysts was produced by an awkwardly introduced and rather confusing revelation by Heather that Pete Domenici had suddenly decided to endorse her. Or something. Heather became a bit teary eyed when announcing the development, as she has a tendency to do when Domenici's name is mentioned or a Superbowl half-time show features a mammary faux pas. But it was unclear during the debate whether Domenici had really endorsed Wilson or merely wished her well in the debate. She did claim she had verified the endorsement with Domenici's office, but there was much muttering afterwards about what had really happened, and when.

Turns out the 76-year-old Domenici, who's suffering from a degenerative brain disease, blurted out during a Socorro appearance yesterday that he wished Heather would win the debate. This was apparently interpreted by Steve Bell, Domenici's powerful right-hand man, to mean that the Senator was "probably" endorsing Wilson. Bell later confirmed it was a genuine endorsement. Eventually, a written statement was released by Domenici's office formally providing the endorsement. Here's the text.

In the statement, Domenici explains he broke his pledge to stay neutral in the GOP Senate primary due to the failure of Pearce to stop the TV ads bashing Heather that were being run by the New York City-based, right-wing Club for Growth. Domenici had previously called for Pearce to convince the out-of-state group to stop running the ads. He also described Wilson as "the brightest member of Congress I know." Heaven help us if that's true. I will say one thing -- Wilson exhibits some of the strangest facial expressions of any "debater" I've seen. I wonder what that tells us about her being ....

An article in today's Albuquerque Journal offers a few more reasons for Domenici's change of mind:

[Steve] Bell said Domenici became agitated in recent days with Pearce's criticism of so-called "earmarks," or pet spending projects lawmakers insert into appropriations bills. Pearce criticized congressional earmarks in a debate Tuesday night sponsored by the Journal and KOAT-TV.

"That sent him over the edge," Bell said. "This (Domenici) is a guy who brings 4 or 5 billion dollars to the state every year, and a lot of that is earmarks. He tried to keep a stance of public neutrality as long as he could," Bell said.

... Bell also said Domenici was put off by Pearce's opposition to mental health parity legislation and expanding health care for poor children. "How do you think he would react to that?" Bell said.

According to Repubs like Domenici, earmarks and government spending are great as long as they are meant for their home state, that of another Republican's or for a pet cause. It's only if they are for a Democrat's state or the common good that they represent bad, out-of-control spending. And it's a given that no taxes should be levied to pay for the pork. Deficit spending on Republican pork is always AOK in Repub circles.

If you missed the televised debate and, for some reason, would like to watch it, visit KNME's blog for video.

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Tonight: NM In Focus Airs and Discusses Last Wilson-Pearce Debate

KNME's New Mexico In Focus will broadcast the New Mexico Broadcasters Association GOP Senate Debate between Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce live on Friday, May 30th, at 7:00 PM; no Sunday repeat. Afterwards, the show will feature a follow-up from 8:00-8:30 PM with debate analysis. Regular panelists and host Gene Grant will welcome these guests to the table: Michael Coleman, Albuquerque Journal Reporter; Gabriel Ramon Sanchez, UNM Political Science Professor; Joe Monahan, political blogger. KNME will also live-stream the debate and analysis on their website, where you can also watch the videos after the fact. This is the last GOP Senate debate before the June 3rd primary. The winner will face Democratic Rep. Tom Udall in the general election in November.

Video: DPNM Protests Bush Fundraiser for GOP & White

The Tom Udall campaign liveblogged the Dem Party of New Mexico's demonstration in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque today protesting George Bush's fundraiser for NM-01 candidate Darren White and the state GOP. Click to see the recorded video of the event. Participants included reps from the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Tom Udall's campaign and UNM College Dems, as well as State Dem Party chair Brian Colon, NM-01 Dem Congressional candidate Martin Heinrich and Janice Saxton, Dem candidate in NM House District 22. KRQE News 13 has this video of Bush's arrival in Albuquerque and the protest in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque.

A major complaint raised by demonstrators centered on Bush's promise to veto the new GI Bill that would expand veterans' benefits and support every vet who's served since 9-11 with expanded financial support for a college education. John McCain, the presumed GOP nominee for prez, is also against the new GI Bill. I guess he supports vets, but only when George Bush tells him it's ok. A couple of quotes from participants about the close relationship between White and Bush:

DPNM Chair Brian Colon: "You know, Darren has been critical of the administration but he got a lot less critical when he had the opportunity to get some money from Bush's supporters. "That's not acceptable."

NM-01 candidate Martin Heinrich: "It's disappointing to see Darren White continue to embrace the president at a time when the administration's failed policies are hurting New Mexico families."

By the way, the Udall campaign is seeking 1000 donations between now and when the polls close for the primary election on June 3rd to offset the effects of the big bucks being raised today in New Mexico for Republican candidates. You know what to do.

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