Democracy for New Mexico

Caroline Kennedy to Kick Off Obama Volunteer Event in Santa Fe

Caroline Kennedy will be in Santa Fe, Taos and Albuquerque on Friday and Saturday for private fundraisers for Barack Obama. The Campaign for Change has now announced that she'll also be speaking to volunteers at an event in Santa Fe on Friday. Caroline will kick off a debate watch party and volunteer training at PC's Restaurant, 4420 Airport Road in Santa Fe on Friday, September 26 from 4:30 to 5:45 PM.

As Obama prepares to debate McCain, volunteers from northern New Mexico will receive training from Campaign for Change staff, followed by a Debate Watch Party. Of course, nobody yet knows if McCain will participate in the debate scheduled for Friday at the University of Mississippi. Obama has said he'll show up regardless, and would be happy to do a town hall meeting or a one-on-one interview with debate moderator Jim Lehrer if McCain doesn't show.

There are dozens of other debate watch parties and Obama campaign events all over New Mexico during the next few days. Click for a listing, pick one out and get involved. If not now, when?

Tonight: Obama Youth Vote Kickoff Party at Kelly's Brew Pub, ABQ

Click on image for larger version

Come join us kick off our youth vote outreach in Albuquerque! We will have a DJ, special guests and speakers, and food!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 6:30-9:30 PM
Kelly's Brew Pub, 3222 Central Ave., ABQ

THE EVENT WILL FEATURE CSI TV STAR HILL HARPER, STATE AUDITOR HECTOR BALDERAS, AND COUNTY CLERK MAGGIE OLIVER.

Meet and mingle with other Obama supporters and learn about how you can get more involved! All are welcome--young people, students, young professionals and the young at heart! The event is free!

Learn about how you can join the OBAMA STREET TEAM to help register young people to vote and engage them with the campaign on campuses, at concerts, clubs and other events. With just two weeks left before the voter registration deadline and six weeks before election day, WE NEED YOUR HELP to make sure that all young people have a voice in this election! Come party with us! Invite your friends!!

Co-Hosts: Mario Benavidez, Javier Benavidez, Ann Marie Padilla, Diana Montoya-Boyer, Bineshi Albert, Monica Cordova, Mimi Aledo, Lissa Knudsen, Danny Hernandez, Andrea Serrano, Rep. Antonio "Moe" Maestas, Antonio Sandoval, Adrian Pedroza, Ana Delgado Mascarenas, Carter Bundy, Laurie Weahkee, Chris Catechis, Chris Salas, Mikie Pruitt, Monica Trujillo, Timo Alvidrez, Delilah Denorio, Celestina Garcia, Damian Otero, Nathan Waites

More info: 505-553-6860 or mhaney@nmforchange.com. See Albuquerque for Obama on Facebook.

Northern Navajo Agency Council Endorses Obama

Obama meeting with Native American leaders at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque last Thursday

From the Obama Campaign for Change: On the heels of three major endorsements from the Native American community last week, the Northern Navajo Agency Council yesterday announced their support of Senator Obama’s candidacy for president.

“Our endorsement of Sen. Obama is very significant. People on the reservations are suffering the same economic and healthcare pains faced by the rest of the country, and they want change,” said Chairman Donald Benally.

The endorsement became official at a meeting held over the weekend where Chapter presidents and vice presidents along with 80 council delegates from the Shiprock Agency voted unanimously to endorse Senator Obama. The Shiprock agency is located in northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona, and southeastern Utah and represents the following 20 chapters: Cudeii, Hogback, Littlewater, Mexican Water, Nenahnezad, Newcomb, Sanostee, Sheep Springs, Shiprock, Sweet Water, Teec Nos Pos, Two Grew Hills, Red Mesa, and Upper Fruitland.

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center meeting

“Native America needs leadership that will regard tribal sovereignty as important and Barack Obama is that leadership. His record shows his commitment to education, health, and advancing the wage earning power of families who struggle,” said Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly. “We need Barack Obama in the White House, to work with Congress, and make improvements that will put us closer to self-sufficiency while strengthening our tribal sovereignty.”

Obama takes questions

Last week, during his to Española and Albuquerque, Senator Obama met with more than 100 leaders of the Native American community at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and was endorsed by the All Indian Pueblo Council, the Mescalero Apache Tribe and Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley.

Photos from Obama campaign Flickr set.

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You're Invited: Musicians and Artists to Support Obama at Orpheum Art Space

Now this sounds like a spectacular way to spend an evening, and at the same time support Obama's campaign. Also, if you're an artist or musician, there's still time to offer your work at this event. See below.

On Friday, October 3rd at 8 PM at the Orpheum Art Space - SE corner of 2nd and Coal in Albuquerque - regional artists and musicians will gather to offer their work in support of Barack Obama for President. Don't miss out on this fun opportunity to purchase some locally produced art work with all money raised going towards Barack Obama's Campaign for Change.

All kinds of cool, locally and regionally produced crafts will be available for purchase. Short films, photography, paintings, clothing, cartoons, . . . everything. Tractor Brewing Co. will be serving up their great beer and local musicians will be entertaining all night.

Any artist or musician that would like to offer their work in the sale can still contribute their pieces. It will be greatly appreciated if attendees could contribute $10 to the Campaign for Change and the event is open to everyone. Voter registrars will also be on hand to register new voters or update voters' registrations.

Simply put:

What: Art sale, social gathering, concert with Of God and Science, fundraiser for Obama, voter registration drive

When: Friday, October 3rd, 8 PM ~ 10:30 PM

Where: Orpheum Art Space - 500 2nd St. SW, Albuquerque - southeast corner of 2nd & Coal

How much: Suggested donation of $10. Art work and beer will also be available for purchase with the revenue going to Obama's Campaign for Change.

Contact:
Matt (Dinger) Hemmendinger, 505-507-7989, dingAaAr@gmail.com
Hannah Macpherson, 310-386-5112, HannahEMacpherson@hotmail.com
Rebekah Wiggins, 575-914-0024, epibutter2u@yahoo.com

PPP: Obama Opens Up Double Digit Lead in New Mexico; Udall Up by 20 Over Pearce

The upward trends for Democrats keep on coming. According to a Public Policy Polling phone survey, Barack Obama has jumped to an 11 point lead over John McCain in New Mexico at 53-42%, with 5% undecided. A total of 93% said they were "firmly committed" to their choices.

Meanwhile, Tom Udall is whomping Steve Pearce in the race for U.S. Senate by a margin of 57-37%, with 6% undecided. In this poll, he's winning women voters by a huge margin of 62-32% and men voters by 51-43%. He's beating Pearce with Hispanic voters 61-33% and with white voters 51-43%.

PPP conducted their survey of 1,037 likely voters from September 17th to 19th, and it has a margin of error of +/-3.0%. According to PPP:

Key to Obama’s performance is that he is only running behind 49-47 to McCain among white voters. In a state with a significant Hispanic population that level of competitiveness with whites will seal a win. He leads 59-35 with Hispanics.

And overall, Obama has a 16 point advantage with independents. Now that's impressive And he's 20 points up with white women voters and 1 point ahead with male voters.

Sarah Palin isn't helping. Only 38% said her selection made them more likely to vote for McCain, while 46% said it made them less likely to support him.

Even worse, 47% of independent voters said her place on the ticket made them less likely to vote Republican. As to Joe Biden, 35% say his choice makes them more likely to vote for Obama versus 32% who say it makes it less likely.

... “New Mexico is probably the state Bush took in 2004 that Barack Obama will have the easiest time winning this time around,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “Part of this large lead may be a product of last week’s economic crisis but even if things return to normal this is a place where the Democrats are going to have a significant advantage.”

None of this, of course, means we can let up even a fraction in our efforts. Things can turn on a dime in a volatile election cycle like this one. Keep on keepin' on with volunteering and donating for all our candidates from the top of the ticket on down. There are NO guarantees.

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Obama Gets Strong Endorsements from NM Tribes

Everybody's coming on board. Today, the Obama campaign announced that the All Indian Pueblo Council (AIPC), Mescalero Apache Tribe and Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley endorsed Barack Obama for President.

“The numerous issues facing Indian tribes require the attention of a President who genuinely respects sovereignty and self determination,” said Governor Michael J. Chavarria, Chair of the 8 Northern Pueblos. “The northern pueblos have moved to endorse the presidential candidacy of Senator Barack Obama. Our endorsement is given knowing that Indian issues will have prominence in an Obama Administration.”

“Native America needs leadership that will regard tribal sovereignty as important and Barack Obama is that leadership. His record shows his commitment to education, health, and advancing the wage earning power of families who struggle,” said Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly. “We need Barack Obama in the White House, to work with Congress, and make improvements that will put us closer to self-sufficiency while strengthening our tribal sovereignty.”

“For eight years, we have lived with Federal policies that erode our culture and language and, therefore, attack our very identity as Native people,” said President Shirley. “It is time for change: a real change! It is time for the United States of America to truly honor its obligations to its Native peoples. Senator Obama understands the uniqueness of Native nations and Native peoples – that is why I support Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States.”

“The All Indian Pueblo Council is honored to endorse Senator Barack Obama for president,” said AIPC Chairman Joe A. Garcia from the Pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh. “We are confident that a nation to nation relationship will be forged under the auspices of respect for sovereignty and a greater opportunity for our communities to prosper and grow.”

Said Governor Chandler Sanchez: “Senator Obama understands tribal issues. He has shown tribal leaders not only in New Mexico but across the nation a willingness to change and improve the direction of tribal policy.”

“I am honored to have the support of New Mexico’s Indian Tribes,” said Senator Obama. “Their commitment to public service is something that every American should be proud of. Indian tribes in our country face a special set of challenges – from issues of sovereignty to access to affordable healthcare. I look forward to working with all of our Tribal Leaders to ensure that we meet these challenges in an Obama-Biden administration.”

On Thursday, during his trip to Española and Albuquerque, Senator Obama met with more than 100 leaders of the Native American community at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.The endorsements represent an overwhelming majority of New Mexico’s Native American population. The AIPC consists of 19 pueblos across New Mexico. The Navajo Nation is the largest North American Indian Tribe, comprised of approximately 300,000 members located around Southeastern Utah, Northeastern Arizona and Northwestern New Mexico.

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GOP's Bernalillo County Chair Claims Hispanics Won't Vote for Obama Because of Race

At times, the veneer wears off in elections like this one. Sometimes ugly truths are revealed in a soundbite or a sentence or two. This is one of those times.

A reporter for the BBC is touring America, talking with people from all walks of life and reporting from the road. Yesterday, while Barack Obama was speaking to a huge rally in Espanola, Jon Kelly was at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque, enjoying the music and food and talking with Hispanics to get their take on the election. One of those he spoke with is the Chairman of the Republican Party of Bernalillo County, Fernando C de Baca. The Chairman came right out and , apparently without blinking an eye or showing even a hint of shame:

"The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors," he said. "African-Americans came here as slaves.

"Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won't vote for a black president."

In the first place, it's odd that a Republican would presume to speak for all Hispanics. Historically, a significant majority of the Latino vote has gone to Democratic presidential candidates.

While George Bush was a bit more successful than most GOP presidential candidates at mustering support from Hispanics, he still got only about 38-44% of their vote in 2004, depending on who you believe. An NDN poll released this week showed Obama trouncing McCain among Hispanic voters by 30-40 points or so in Western states. In New Mexico, Obama leads McCain 56 percent to 23 percent among Hispanics, according to the poll.

Secondly, it's pretty much impossible for anybody to explain how and why "Hispanics" vote because there are numerous ethnicities and other kinds of diversity within the Latino community in America -- just like there are within the "Anglo" or other cultural or racial groups. There is no monolithic Hispanic demographic whose members think and vote exactly alike, en masse. Duh.

Like too many Republicans these days, however, Chairman C de Baca apparently sees no such shades of grey or other complexities. Broad brush all the way. Even worse, he expresses an attitude that's reminiscent of a pre-civil right movement America, with racial language and stereotyping to match. It's a sad day when a county party leader takes it upon himself to speak out publicly on behalf of all Hispanics in such a crass and disrepectful manner. What year is it again? (I just had to "echo chamber" this one, h/t to .)

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Slideshow: Obama in Española, New Mexico 9/18/08

Click arrow to start the slide show. Once it's going you can click on the square in the bottom right corner to view the show full screen. Hit ESC key to go back to smaller version. Photos by M.E. Broderick.

Also see my .

The Obama blog has another excellent slide show that includes Barack's meeting with tribal leaders at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, his stop at The Range Cafe in Bernalillo and his appearance in Española, as well as a video of Obama's entire speech there.

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Crowd of 9500+ Welcomes Obama to Española NM

NM-03 candidate Ben Ray Lujan speaks to the crowd in English and Spanish about the victories to come -- if we stand together and work for it

This is only PART of the crowd

Obama in front of a quintessential New Mexico backdrop, Plaza de Espanola

The place was packed. The town was packed. The streets were packed. The plaza in Española, NM was packed with more than 9500 enthusiastic, sun-drenched people from Northern New Mexico and beyond, many of whom waited in line for hours to get a chance to be a part of Barack Obama's Change We Need Rally. At its longest, the line waiting to get in reportedly stretched about two miles -- and I believe it. When the plaza was full, more people crammed into the spaces outside the barriers, periodically yelling and cheering for Obama from the peripheries. They got the shade of the TV satellite trucks. It's always a trade-off.

Mariachis entertain the crowd

As we were driving around scoping things out and trying to find the press entrance, we passed a line that filled the sidewalk, snaked around corners, filled an entire sidestreet and and tailed off into the distance. People didn't seem to care about the wait, the sun, the crazy-quilt parking or the semi-chaos that was evident all over Española -- population 9688 according to the 2000 census. Yes, that's right -- the town's population almost doubled with the influx of Obama fans, former Hillary fans and folks coming just to take a listen to the candidate who's now 7-8 points ahead of McCain in New Mexico in the latest polling.

The crowd was festive, friendly and pumped -- you could feel it all over. The town was bustling with vendors hawking Obama everything and folks renting out parking spaces in their yards or outside their businesses, making nice profits on the deals. Nobody was complaining. Lots of neighbors greeting neighbors, talking family, talking politics, talking how great it was that Obama was visiting the gateway to the Hispanic North and paying his respects to the very voters who just might put him over the top in the presidential election. Hispanics, Anglos, Native Americans, Sikhs, gays, straights, browns, whites, blacks, young, old and everything in between. Most of all, Democrats. La Gente -- the people who truly believe in of the people, by the people, for the people.

Gov. Bill Richardson revs the crowd

I caught snatches of conversations about the Kennedys and their visits to Northern New Mexico long ago, and how presidential candidates had rarely bothered after that. It was clear that memories were welling up throughout the crowd, of politics and presidents and Democratic victories past, when things were different and progress was being made on equality and pay and expanded opportunities. When things seemed like they were getting better, not worse.

And then the hopeful wondering -- could we get Obama elected and could he help us get to that place once again? That place of moving forward, not back. That place of unity and community, not hate, not fear. When it felt good to be an American, a New Mexican, a worker getting a fair shake, a family whose kids just might do better with hard work and determination and a fair deal. When people were looking ahead, not back.

Obama steps before the crowd

If the crowd that showed up in Española is any indication, people are starting to believe once again -- and are ready to put the pedal to the metal to get there, to help Barack get there. To help us all start moving in that direction once more, after eight very long years without nourishment, without movement, without progress, without hope.

I'll be writing more about Obama's latest visit to New Mexico, but I wanted to get something up now so you can get at least a glimpse of what the day was like -- from my perspective anyway -- before I give in and hit the couch. Also check out and What's the Word for coverage, as Matt and Peter were also (as always) right smack in the middle of things today.

Oh, and then there were the forlorn Republicans. Their campaign office, such as it is, was nearby the plaza. As you can see in this photo, they had plenty of time on their hands -- and no takers. I guess people don't really want to "Play It Safe" -- whatever the GOP means by that ....

You can see more photos from Española in our Flickr set, and more videos that we'll continue to load at our YouTube channel.

All photos and video by M.E. Broderick. Click on photos for larger versions.

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East Mountains for Obama: River, Baby, River

Read all about it in newmexicobear's diary on Daily Kos. (And don't miss the donkey.) River is an 11-year-old, homeschooled Obama activist from Edgewood NM. A rousing speech -- and a reminder that now's the time for ACTION.