Democracy for New Mexico

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:

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

NM-Sen: Who Will Face Tom Udall?

Continue reading "NM-Sen: Who Will Face Tom Udall?"

Hey Bo Diddley: Now He's Gone

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

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

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

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

Continue reading "Hey Bo Diddley: Now He's Gone"

AP Tally: Obama Has Clinched Nomination

And so the Dem presidential primary ends and the general election begins.

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.

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

SD 17: Tim Keller Hosts Election Night Party

State Senate District 17 candidate Tim Keller is hosting an election night party tonight, Tuesday, June 3, at Tim’s House/Campaign Headquarters, 11023 Vistazo PL SE, in Albuquerque, from 7 to 8:30 PM. Click for FLYER (pdf). Let's hope it's a VICTORY party! Go Tim!

Join Lt. Gov. Diane Denish for Working America Health Care Rally

Join Working America's Health Care We Can Count on rally:

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Lt. Gov. Diane Denish
WHAT: Working America Rally
WHEN: Wednesday, June 4, 2:00 PM
WHERE: AFT Building, 8100 Mountain Road Place NE, ABQ
1 block north, 1 block east of Pennsylvania & Lomas
Click for FLYER

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NM-03: Wiviott Hosts Election Night Party

Democrat Don Wiviott, running for Congressin NM-03, is hosting an election night party that begins at 7 PM at his Campaign HQ, 1964 Cerrillos Road, in Santa Fe. All are welcome!

NM-03: Ben Ray Luján Election Night Celebration

Democratic Congressional candidate Ben Ray Luján will hold an election night celebration on Tuesday, June 3, at 7:00 PM at the Hotel Santa Fe, 1501 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM. All are welcome.