Democracy for New Mexico

Librul Nation

This month, the Campaign for America's Future released an exhaustive study, The Progressive Majority: Why a Conservative America is a Myth, that "offers hard facts and analysis based on decades of data from some of the nation’s most respected and nonpartisan public opinion researchers. This is the evidence that political leaders have a mandate to pursue bold, progressive policies."

As reported on TomPaine.com, the study includes these findings:

[Economics] Polling by the Pew Research Center shows 84 percent support to increase the minimum wage. Gallup shows that more Americans sympathize with unions than with companies in labor disputes (52 to 34 percent). NBC News and the Wall Street Journal polls indicate that nearly twice as many people think the U.S. is more hurt than helped by the global economy (48 to 25 percent). Other polls open the door to increased labor and environmental standards as part of the solution.

... research by the University of Michigan National Election Studies reveals that 69 percent of Americans believe government should care for those who can’t care for themselves. Twice as many people want “government to provide many more services even if it means an increase in spending" (43 percent) as want government to provide fewer services “in order to reduce spending” (20 percent). Majorities say we need a bigger government “because the country’s problems are bigger” (59 percent) and a “strong government to handle complex problems” (67 percent).

These Americans are challenging a central plank of modern conservatism. They don’t always want government to leave them alone. They want government to help hold us together.

[Women's Choice, Sex Education] ... The percentage of Americans who consider abortion the “most important” issue ranks in the single digits in poll after poll. When an election forces them to pay attention to it, Pew research shows a 56 percent majority oppose making it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion, a proportion that has hardly changed in the past 20 years. Only 29 percent want to see Roe v. Wade overturned. And 67 percent, according to polls by Kaiser and Harvard, want sex education in schools to include information about contraception, not just abstinence. Yet conservatives continually push these subjects to the fore and stand on the wrong side of them. It’s time for mainstream media to question whether movement conservatives, not coastal liberals, are out of the mainstream.

[Energy] ... Gallup polls in March 2007 reveal that twice as many Americans want to solve energy problems with more conservation instead of more production (64 percent compared to 26 percent). Polls by CBS and the New York Times in April 2007 show 64 percent are willing to pay higher fuel taxes if the money were used for research into renewable energy sources, and 75 percent would be willing to pay more for electricity if it were generated by renewable sources like wind or energy. Only oil companies, conservative politicians and a minority of Americans (41 percent) want to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to drilling.

[Health Care] ... Gallup’s latest poll reveals that 69 percent of Americans think it’s the government responsibility to make sure all Americans have health coverage. Only 28 percent disagreed. Polls by CBS/New York Times in February 2007 reveal that 76 percent of Americans would give up the Bush tax cuts to make sure all Americans have access to health care.

[Iraq] ... The war in Iraq is a disaster. 63 percent of Americans want to set deadlines for withdrawal. Four times as many Americans (48 percent to 12 percent) think the war in Iraq has made the threat of terrorism against the United States worse rather than better.

So how does the conservative propaganda machine get away with their myth creation?

The answers are manifold. Skillful use of wedge issues by conservative politicians. Advantages in fundraising. Political gerrymandering. An establishment media that rarely asks hard questions. A war on terror that trumps pedestrian domestic concerns.

What can we do about it? For starters: Demand that all Dem candidates and officeholders take strong, liberal stands on the issues. Work with organizations like Media Matters and Free Press to hold big media accountable. Work for ethics and campaign finance reform locally and nationally. Keep speaking out and talking to your friends and neighbors. Get active!

Tonight on Espejos, KUNM 89.9 at 8 PM: Human Rights Vigil & the NHCC Foundation

Check out KUNM 89.9FM tonight, Monday, June 19th, at 8:00 PM for a two-part live interview on "Espejos de Aztlan," a weekly radio show dedicated to highlighting community affairs in New Mexico since 1979.

Part One (8:00 PM) of tonight's show will focus on the work of local civil rights attorneys fighting to bring fair representation to the hundreds of immigrants being detained in Albuquerque's downtown regional detention center (4th and Roma), separated from family and living under inhumane conditions. Tomorrow night, Tuesday, June 19th at 7 PM, a peaceful vigil will be held in front of the Downtown ABQ detention center, in support of human rights, family unity, and against the mass detention of immigrants. For more information, please call 246-1627.

Part Two (8:15 PM) of tonight's Espejos show will feature the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising the funds necessary to help support the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. Recently, the Foundation has launched Club Social, a new outreach program aimed at engaging the community's young professionals in the Center's dual worlds of Hispanic arts and culture and philanthropy, while also providing unique opportunities for networking surrounding the Center’s world-class programming. For more information, please call 766-9858.

Espejos is part of the Raices Colectiva which conducts programming on news, culture and music from a Latino perspective on KUNM 89.9FM.

(Updated) Oops, What's Bush Drinking?

The photo above was included as part of this article on Yahoo News about Bush at the G8 summit in Germany. Funny, Bush was guzzling this golden, sudsy liquid on Thursday, only to come down with stomach problems on Friday morning causing him to stay in bed. I wouldn't be surprised if he had some problems with pretzels, as well:

Stricken with a stomach ailment that confined him to his hotel room, President Bush still met Friday with France's new president and prepared for talks in Poland on a new missile defense system. The president was already dressed when he began feeling ill in the morning, White House counselor Dan Bartlett said. He said doctors are keeping an eye on him but that Bush's illness — whether a stomach virus, a light touch of food poisoning or something else — is "not serious."

He stayed in bed to try to rest and recuperate, missing the morning session of the summit being held here of eight industrialized democracies.

UPDATE 4:00 PM: Here's another shot from the G8 in Germany of Bush and his beer:

Hat tip Think Progress.

Maybe it's become a sort of tradition for George W. to party down at the G8. Check out his expression in this photo from last year's Summit, and note the bottle of beer near him on the table:

RSVP Now for Evening with Palestinian Activist Dr. Mona El-Farra

From the Middle East Peace & Justice Alliance:
Dear Friend of Peace: You are cordially invited to a buffet dinner, narrated slideshow, and reception for Dr. Mona El-Farra from Gaza, Palestine, on Monday, June 18, 2007, at 7:00 PM, at the home of Dorothy Morse and Armen Chakerian in Albuquerque's North Valley. Click for flyer (pdf).

Dr. El-Farra is a Palestinian physician, activist, educator, mother, and internationally-recognized human rights leader. She is Director of Gaza Projects for the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA). Dr. El-Farra travels frequently to Europe to meet with solidarity activists and speak to general audiences about life in Occupied Gaza, as well as how the international community can join Palestinians in their efforts to secure justice. Now you can hear her clear and powerful voice on this, her first U.S. speaking tour.

To further the important work on children's projects in Gaza, we are suggesting a donation of $25 per person. PLEASE JOIN US FOR THIS WORTHY AND INTERESTING EVENING! RSVP by Friday June 15 to Joan Robins (341-2306 or 1robins@swcp.com). She will provide directions to the event.

If you cannot attend but would like to donate, please send a check made to the Middle East Children's Alliance, c/o MEPJA, Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, 202 Harvard SE, Albuquerque 87106. Thank you.

Hero-For-Sale Rudy Giuliani Trolling for Cash in NM This Weekend

The Albuquerque Journal reports Repub prez hopeful Rudy Giuliani will be in Albuquerque this Saturday looking for big dollar donations from NM GOP bigwigs at a private luncheon fundraiser. It will cost $4,600 to participate in a "round table discussion" with Rudy, and a mere $2,300 for a photo standing next to the former New York City Mayor. When Giuliani goes after the big bucks, playing on his carefully crafted image as an alleged American hero and patriot for his actions during the 9-11 tragedy, he doesn't fool around. He milks it to the nth degree.

To get the full flavor of how craven Giuliani has been in parlaying his 9-11 connections into cash and pseudo-credibility, you really have to read the new article by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone. According to a sidebar in the print version of the article, Rudy was worth only $7,000 in 2001, as reported to divorce court. This year his net worth is $30 MILLION, as disclosed in federal election reports. Not bad for "America's Mayor," as he bills himself.

Excerpts from the online version:

Although few people outside of New York know it yet, there is an emerging controversy over Giuliani's heroic 9/11 legacy. Critics charge that Rudy's failure to resolve the feuding between the city's police and firefighters prior to the attack led to untold numbers of deaths, the most tragic example being the inability of firemen to hear warnings from police helicopters about the impending collapse of the South Tower. The 9/11 Commission concluded that the two departments had been "designed to work independently, not together," and that greater coordination would have spared many lives.

... Rudy Giuliani is a true American hero, and we know this because he does all the things we expect of heroes these days -- like make $16 million a year, and lobby for Hugo Chávez and Rupert Murdoch, and promote wars without ever having served in the military, and hire a lawyer to call his second wife a "stuck pig," and organize absurd, grandstanding pogroms against minor foreign artists, and generally drift through life being a shameless opportunist with an outsize ego who doesn't even bother to conceal the fact that he's had a hard-on for the presidency since he was in diapers. In the media age, we can't have a hero humble enough to actually be one; what is needed is a tireless scoundrel, a cad willing to pose all day long for photos, who'll accept $100,000 to talk about heroism for an hour, who has the balls to take a $2.7 million advance to write a book about himself called Leadership. That's Rudy Giuliani. Our hero. And a perfect choice to uphold the legacy of George W. Bush.

You might have surmised by now that Taibbi isn't known for mincing words. Here he is highlighting Giuliani's hookups with Karl Rove's henchmen and a Swift Boat-style attack on Hillary:

... there's no question that Giuliani has made the continuation of Swift-Boating politics a linchpin of his candidacy. His political hires speak deeply to that tendency. Chris Henick, formerly Karl Rove's most trusted deputy, is now a key aide at Giuliani Partners, the security firm set up by the mayor to cash in on his 9/11 image. One of his top donors, Richard Collins, is a longtime Bush supporter who was instrumental in setting up "Stop Her Now," a 527 group modeled on Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that will be used to attack Hillary Clinton. And the money for the smear campaign comes from the same Texas sources behind the Swift Boaters, including oilman T. Boone Pickens and Houston home builder Bob Perry.

... And let's not forget Bernie Kerik, Rudy's very own hairy-assed Sancho Panza, who was nixed as director of Homeland Security after investigators uncovered a gift he received from a construction firm with alleged mob ties that wanted to do business with Giuliani's administration. It is a testament to the monstrous breadth of Rudy's chutzpah that he used his post-9/11 celebrity to push his personal bagman for a post that milks the world's hugest security-contracts tit -- at the very moment when he himself was creating a security-services company.

The article also goes into detail describing how Rudy's inept and careless handling of the clean-up of the 9-11 wreckage is producing medical problems galore for many who participated. And how his stint as Mayor of New York and his subsequent role as a lobbyist were characterized primarily by his jumping into bed with whoever had big bucks to give. Ever since 9-11, Rudy's focused on setting up private companies that benefit hugely from "homeland security" contracts, and grabbing up to $200,000 per speech to talk about his patriotism and how he saved the day in NYC. His main message? Pay me, I'm a hero!" In 2002 he he reported $8 million in speaking income. Last year it topped $11 million. Not bad for someone who basically held the spotlight during the tragedy during one day before the TV cameras while Bush was hiding out.

I'm sure he'll get more than a few standing ovations (and big checks) when he appears this weekend before New Mexico's Repub elite. He's not known for doing anything without a big personal payoff. Cha-ching!

Bobby: 39 Years Ago Today

Robert Francis Kennedy
November 20, 1925 - June 6, 1968

"There is discrimination in this world and slavery and slaughter and starvation. Governments repress their people; millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich and wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere. These are differing evils, but they are the common works of man. They reflect the imperfection of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, our lack of sensibility towards the suffering of our fellows. But we can perhaps remember -- even if only for a time -- that those who live with us are our brothers; that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek -- as we do -- nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.

"Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men. And surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again. The answer is to rely on youth -- not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to the obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. They cannot be moved by those who cling to a present that is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger that come with even the most peaceful progress.

"... Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

"Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change.

"... The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American Society. Our future may lie beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control. It is the shaping impulse of America that neither fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history, but the work of our own hands, matched to reason and principle, that will determine our destiny. There is pride in that, even arrogance, but there is also experience and truth. In any event, it is the only way we can live." --Robert F. Kennedy, South Africa, 1966

I awoke to the broadcast of the devastating news of Bobby Kennedy's assassination on my clock-radio on the day I was to head home by train after finals week at the University of Illinois. It had been only two months since Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. Back in April, the day after Martin was killed, I had also headed home from Champaign-Urbana to Chicago on an Illinois-Central train, at that time for Spring break. To this day, they are the two most somber and upsetting train rides I've ever taken in my life. I can remember the visceral, powerful feelings I experienced as if the tragedies happened yesterday, even if I can't really put them into words. I don't think anyone who was young during that era ever has, to anyone's satisfaction.

Both times curfews were imposed in Chicago in anticipation of violence. The violence happened after King's murder. I rode the rails into Chicago through the city's South Side with shots ringing out, buildings ablaze and passengers obediently lying low beneath window level. Fear reverberated down the line of cars. With Bobby's death, though, there seemed to be only an overwhelming sadness -- an uncomfortable resignation -- that dangerous, hateful forces had taken firm root in America, and that they would have to play themselves out. Today, the most disturbing realization is that they still haven't entirely played themselves out, 39 years later.

We are still seeking a leader who will truly unite us and set us on a path that might mitigate our human weaknesses. We are still wondering what might have been. We are still at the mercy of the haters, the narrow minded, the visciously power hungry. Keeping our hopes alive still seems like the very hardest thing. Those ripples Bobby spoke of can seem so few and far between. But they are real. We must cling to them. We must make more if we are ever to finally extricate our culture from the sway of those who appeal to the very worst of our nature, always for their own gain. We have to keep trying. And trying. And trying.

Quick Hits

Believe it or not I've decided to do something other than work on this blog this holiday weekend. Like have some good old fashioned fun and relaxation. So I'll just offer a few quick hits and links today before heading out to greener pastures:

• If you haven't yet read them, check out two articles by James Scarantino in this week's Alibi related to the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias. One is a compelling interview with Iglesias and the other is a fascinating exposé of Albuquerque attorney Patrick Rogers, including his role in the purge scandal and his connections with the Republican front group, the American Center for Voting Rights. I'll be writing more about these matters after the holiday.
• Health Haussamen has a good piece on State Auditor Hector Balderas and how he's trying to strengthen the office. Balderas, a Democrat, says he's still contemplating entering the CD1 Congressional race against incumbent Rep. Heather Wilson. If so, I think he'd better start moving on it as Martin Heinrich is beginning to build up a head of steam in his effort to be the Dem's candidate.
• Memorial Day started out as Decoration Day, which has its roots in the wake of the American Civil War. After World War I, it became a day of remembrance for all those who had died in the nation's wars. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America organization (IAVA) has put together a resource list of ways you can show your support for veterans this Memorial Day weekend. You can also watch a short film that explains IAVA's critical mission in service of veterans, which you can also support with a donation.
• I watched Charlie Rose's in-depth, hour-long interview with Al Gore last night. Rah! If you missed it, you can watch a video of the show on Rose's website.
• The photos that bookend this post were taken during a sunrise on the Atlantic Ocean at North Carolina's Outer Banks, where Mary Ellen spent time at a family gather this week. Click on the photos for larger versions. I'm glad she got to reconnect with the sea and I'm glad she's back here in the high desert.

Gore: The Assault on Reason

I'ts (another) rainy day in New Mexico -- perfect for reading. I suggest you start with a substantial excerpt from Al Gore's soon to be released new book, The Assault on Reason, courtesy of Time magazine. Some quotes:

Why do reason, logic and truth seem to play a sharply diminished role in the way America now makes important decisions?" The persistent and sustained reliance on falsehoods as the basis of policy, even in the face of massive and well-understood evidence to the contrary, seems to many Americans to have reached levels that were previously unimaginable.

... It is simply no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse. I know I am not alone in feeling that something has gone fundamentally wrong. In 2001, I had hoped it was an aberration when polls showed that three-quarters of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for attacking us on Sept. 11. More than five years later, however, nearly half of the American public still believes Saddam was connected to the attack.

... what television's dominance has come to mean is that the inherent value of political propositions put forward by candidates is now largely irrelevant compared with the image-based ad campaigns they use to shape the perceptions of voters. The high cost of these commercials has radically increased the role of money in politics—and the influence of those who contribute it. That is why campaign finance reform, however well drafted, often misses the main point: so long as the dominant means of engaging in political dialogue is through purchasing expensive television advertising, money will continue in one way or another to dominate American politics. And as a result, ideas will continue to play a diminished role. That is also why the House and Senate campaign committees in both parties now search for candidates who are multimillionaires and can buy the ads with their own personal resources.

... Fortunately, the Internet has the potential to revitalize the role played by the people in our constitutional framework. It has extremely low entry barriers for individuals. It is the most interactive medium in history and the one with the greatest potential for connecting individuals to one another and to a universe of knowledge. It's a platform for pursuing the truth, and the decentralized creation and distribution of ideas, in the same way that markets are a decentralized mechanism for the creation and distribution of goods and services. It's a platform, in other words, for reason.

But the Internet must be developed and protected, in the same way we develop and protect markets—through the establishment of fair rules of engagement and the exercise of the rule of law. The same ferocity that our Founders devoted to protect the freedom and independence of the press is now appropriate for our defense of the freedom of the Internet. The stakes are the same: the survival of our Republic. We must ensure that the Internet remains open and accessible to all citizens without any limitation on the ability of individuals to choose the content they wish regardless of the Internet service provider they use to connect to the Web. We cannot take this future for granted. We must be prepared to fight for it, because of the threat of corporate consolidation and control over the Internet marketplace of ideas.

Gore to Join Prez Race?
By the way, Gore has provided the strongest hint yet that he may still have plans to enter the presidential race. A soon to be published article in the New York Times reports:

When I asked Gore why he hasn’t dismissed all the speculation by issuing a Shermanesque refusal to stand, as he did in 2002, Gore said, "Having spent 30 years as part of the political dialogue, I don’t know why a 600-day campaign is taken as a given, and why people who aren’t in it 600 days out for the convenience of whatever brokers want to close the door and narrow the field and say, ‘This is it, now let’s place your bets’ — If they want to do that, fine. I don’t have to play that game."

Falwell Passes, Will Miss The Rapture

Moral Majority political operative Jerry Falwell died today at age 73 shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University. It may be crass to say it but Jerry -- the bigoted, pseudo-Christian, right-wing political force -- will therefore have to miss the coming Rapture and Apocalypse. Darn. Falwell quotes:

On 9-11:
“I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

On AIDS:
"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals"

On global warming:
"I believe that global warming is a myth. And so, therefore, I have no conscience problems at all and I'm going to buy a Suburban next time."

"Satan's attempt to redirect the church's primary focus from evangelism to environmentalism.

"Naive Christian leaders, in fact, have been duped—DUPED, I say—by dirty hippies like Al Gore. An Inconvenient Truth? HAH, it should be called A Convenient Untruth, Oscar be damned."

On born again or else:
"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."

On gays destroying America:
"Someone must not be afriad to say, 'moral perversion is wrong.' If we do not act now, homosexuals will 'own' America! ... If you and I do not speak up now, this homosexual steamroller will literally crush all decent men, women, and children who get in its way...and our nation will pay a terrible price!"

On feminists:
I listen to feminists and all these radical gals - most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men - that's their problem.

On public schools:
"I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!"

Building An Audience Who Wants Progressive News and Views

This is a guest blog by Suzanne Prescott, who joined with Eric Griego to create the local progressive talk radio show, Insight New Mexico, which aired for on 1350AM on Saturdays during the NM Legislative Session:

Those who listened to Insight New Mexico have asked if Eric Griego (above right, in studio) will be back on radio. Blogger, Joe Monahan, points out that Eric's options could include competing activities like a run for Heather Wilson's seat or even expanded job duties in Santa Fe. What's up next for Eric? We don't know but we're listening.

We can however look at data about podcasts taken from Eric's radio show, Insight New Mexico, which aired throughout the NM legislative session on AM 1350 Progressive Talk Radio. Individual interviews with guests were podcasted as well as podcasts of shows in their entirety. Podcasts have been played more than 1000 times. By May 11th the top 12 individual interviews (see below) were played 583 times. In addition complete shows were accessed which further increased exposure to show guests beyond listeners who listened to individual podcasts. We conclude that podcasts increased exposure to local progressive legislators, bloggers, journalists and advocates for progressive issues and the numbers continue to grow. 

While the original radio broadcasts may have had somewhere around 1000 - 2000 listeners, podcasts are disseminated over the Internet and provide exposure to a limited audience outside New Mexico, as well as friends, family, staff of guests, and other interested parties. Once radio shows aired and podcasts were created from the shows, it took some time for the podcasts to find their way to interested listeners. For example the individual interview with Sandy Buffet, Executive Director of Conservation Voters NM, was podcasted on February 1 and only played 6 times by March 1 but by May 11th had been played 52 times. (To see the detailed number of plays go to https://podcast.insightnm.net .)

In comparison to audiences for a local conservative weekday drive time radio, these numbers are small - a weekday morning drive time show in Albuquerque could attract 18,000 - 20,000 listeners. However, in terms of building a progressive listenership, the figures suggest that there is an audience waiting to be built and listeners looking for alternative points of view. As soon as AM 1350 began broadcasting Air America radio lineup and other progressive talk shows hosts like Ed Schultz (left, with Suzanne Prescott), the radio talk show audience at normally conservative KKOB saw a decline.  But progressive views on commercial radio rarely include local news and talk. For a progressive slant in Albuquerque, interested parties must rely on a modest set of local resources like the New Mexico blogosphere, Channel 27, KUNM, and the 'The Science Guys' on AM 1350 Talk Radio. Clearly there's room for improvement. It's not too early to begin building a local progressive base by adding radio to the media mix and doing more to extend the current reach of the blogosphere.  It's also too early to conclude that a progressive campaign media strategy should rely on a mind numbing and alienating TV blitz at campaign's end. The recent failure in the District #1 race shows that too much reliance on TV is risky.

The Top Dozen Podcasts from Eric Griego's Insight New Mexico radio show

1) Eric Griego talks with statesman and former mentor, Richard Romero.
* Played 61 times * Runtime 00:08:53

2) Eric interviews Eric Mack, Executive Producer for the New Mexico News Connection, a radio news service.
* Played 54 times * Runtime 00:06:49

3) Eric interviews Senator Dede Feldman
* Played 52 times * Runtime 00:14:32

4) Eric talks with James Scarantino
* Played 52 times * Runtime 00:08:56

5) Eric chats with Sandy Buffet, Executive Director of Conservation Voters NM
* Played 52 times * Runtime 00:00:00

6) Eric chats with conservative New Mexico blogger, Mario Burgos
* Played 49 times * Runtime 00:13:00

7) Eric Interviews New Mexico State Representative, ‘Moe’ Maestas
* Played 48 times * Runtime 00:11:00

8) Eric interviews New Mexico State Senator Jerry Ortiz Y Pino
* Played 48 times * Runtime 00:12:08

9) Eric interviews Maggie Toulouse, Bernalillo County Clerk
* Played 46 times * Runtime 00:11:29

10) Eric interviews Barbara Wold creator of the blog, Democracy for New Mexico
* Played 42 times * Runtime 00:07:08

11) Eric talks with Gene Grant, Albuquerque Tribune columnist and host of 'The Line' on KNME-TV
* Played 41 times * Runtime 00:09:00

12) Eric discusses prospects for passage of the Ethics Reform package with Matt Brix, Executive Director of Common Cause New Mexico
* Played 38 times * Runtime 00:15:26

Note: Unfortunately the second show was not recorded by AM station 1350,  and therefore interviews with our guests,  Mimi Stewart, Joe Monahan, and Kate Nash could not be podcasted.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog from frequent contributor Suzanne Prescott. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper left-hand corner of our main page.