Rocky Mountain Political Grok
Udall Up for Domenici’s Seat, Cubin’s Out in ‘08, Obama In Boise
By Greg Lemon, 11-13-07
Representative Tom Udall, D-New Mexico, has officially jumped into the race for the Senate seat of retiring Pete Domenici. Udall is giving up running for re-election to his House seat and his influential spot on the House Appropriations Committee to pursue the Senate spot.
Udall’s move was speculated about for weeks before he made his official announcement over the weekend.
Incredibly, Udall’s decision means that all three New Mexican Representatives will be running for Domenici’s seat (besides Udall, Republicans Reps. Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce are in the mix) and they will face a handful of other candidates from both parties. Udall will likely face Albuquerque Mayor, Martin Chávez, as well as Jim Hannan and Leland Lehrman. However, Lehrman and Hannan may reconsider now that Udall is in the race.
According to an article last week in the Sante Fe New Mexican: “Democrats who have said they are considering the Congressional District 3 race — if Udall runs for Senate — are Public Regulation Commissioner Ben Ray Luján, state auditor Hector Balderas, former County Commissioner Javier Gonzales, current County Commissioner Harry Montoya, former state Rep. Patsy Trujillo, Española Mayor Joe Maestas, Sheriff Greg Solano and lawyer Geno Zamora.”
In Wyoming, Rep. Barbara Cubin also announced Saturday not to seek an eighth term in Congress. Cubin has had a rough year personally, writes NewWest.Net’s Brodie Farquhar in a recent piece.
“Cubin’s physician husband Fritz has been seriously ill this year, and she had a brother die as well. Cubin broke her foot in September. All of these health issues have given her the worst voting record in the House of Representatives, of a living representative—missing almost half of all votes cast in this session of Congress,” wrote Farquhar.
Cubin narrowly defeated Democratic challenger Gary Trauner in 2006. Trauner is running again and is facing a primary challenge from Al Hamburg of Torrington.
“Three Republicans have announced their intention to seek the GOP nomination for the U.S. House—Bill Winney, a retired naval officer, Kenn Gilchrist of Casper and Swede Nelson of Cheyenne. State Rep. Colin Simpson of Cody said last spring he intended to seek the nomination, but has yet to make a formal announcement,” wrote Farquhar.
Also in Wyoming, the Republican National Committee announced that the state will lose half of its delegates to the national convention for holding an early primary. Wyoming’s primary is scheduled for Jan. 19, but the state GOP will not reschedule just because the national committee is taking away delegates, wrote the Capser Star-Tribune.
“Wyoming GOP officials said earlier the loss of delegates is a price they were willing to pay to get attention from the presidential candidates,” Joan Barron of the Star-Tribune wrote. “So far four of the eight Republican candidates have visited the state: Fred Thompson, former Tennessee senator and actor; Texas congressman Ron Paul; California congressman Duncan Hunter; and Romney, who stopped briefly in Jackson earlier this year.”
Also, filed under the “in case you haven’t heard” box, Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama has opened a campaign office in Boise.
“It will help us with a good strategy and execution,” David Plouffe, Obama’s national campaign manager told the Boise Weekly. “We’ll marry that with a lot of enthusiasm on the ground.”
Obama’s focus has been in early primary and caucus states like Iowa and New Hampshire, but states with Febuary primaries or caucuses will begin getting more of his attention as the race for the nomination intensifies, Plouffe said.
Greg rounds up the week’s political news in the Rockies each week in the Rocky Mountain Political Grok. If you have story idea for the Grok, reach Greg at politics@newwest.net.
[End of article]Wow! Didja notice the last names of all those Democratic candidates running for Udall's seat? I'd say there's a major Hispanic voting drive in the works for New Mexico -- no more gringo patron politics, at least for the Dems. Methinks the natives are restless, which bodes ill for the GOP.
For the Republicans, both Wilson and Peance are saddled with all the Bush failures, while Wilson has to worry about the fired DoJ attorney scandal that has implicated her and Dominici.
Speaking of Colin Simpson, he shows up everywhere, acting very much as if he's running, but running for what? What's up with that?
Inky, Have to say the northern portion of the state is populated with native Hispanics--these are not immigrants, but natives who trace their routes to the first Hispanic arrivals from Spain. The Major Hispanic Voting Drive has to do with the fact that in those counties to the north the population skews heavily and the Hispanic population has always been heavily involved in state politics. Hector Balderas, Ben Ray Lujan, and Geno Zamora, among others, have name recognition statewide, so it's not surprising that they're being floated as potential candidates. Here are some population figures from that part of New Mexico: San Miguel County, 77 percent, Mora County, 78 percent, Santa Fe County 49 percent, Taos County 55 percent. Nearly all the politicians in that part of the state have always been Hispanic, and probably will be for some time to come.Taos and Santa Fe are anomalies. So yes, it is time for a Hispanic name in that part of the state for truly representative government. HOWEVER...with that said, you want to talk about Patron? Do a quick search on Robert Vigil, state treasurer, or Manny Aragon, who was in State Senate leadership for 30 years and at one time was floated seriously as a candidate for Washington. I think Northern NM was very happy with Udall, and will probably cast their vote for him for Senate. It's a seriously democratic part of the universe.
Comment By Emily Esterson, 11-13-07Those population figures are percents of people with Hispanic or Latino origin. Sorry, forgot to include that line. Census data from 2006.
Comment By Matthew Koehler, 11-14-07Replacing Pete Domenici with Tom Udall would certainly be a huge step in the right direction. Green is the new red, white and blue.
Comment By Emily Esterson, 11-14-07And New Mexico is really very purple.
Comment By Donald Iarussi, 11-14-07As long as it is a conservative Republican. Democrats know that many Hispanic/Americans will vote Republican. So Hillary is trying hard to register as many illegal voters as possible
Democrats have nothing knew to offer. just whining, racism, bigotry and washed up 60's relics.
As far as Hussein obama, lol...a Musllim who turned Christian? yeah that will sit well with the enemy.....
Emily's points are all well-taken, and New Mexico shows every sign of a purple state in transition to a blue one.
While there are conservative, Republican Hispanics, the GOP has been doing such an excellent job at imitating the Know-Nothing Party with screaming xenophobics like Tom Tancredo, that even socially conservative Hispanics are getting the message -- the GOP is deeply racist.
Any time I hear a conservative rant about "activist judges," I hear echoes of Strom Thurmond, Wallace and Helms. And if they're not racist about black and brown-skinned folks, then they're homophobic or anti-feminist to the point that they don't just want to roll back the 1960's, they want roll back everything to pre-Teddy Roosevelt days, when men were men, women were barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen, sex was dirty, labor unrest was easily squashed by calling out the militia and an occasional lynching kept the lower races in their place.
What planet is Iarussi from?
Inky, don't ask what planet Iarussi is from... You truly don't want to know. Given his right-wing rants, you'd really be confused by the twisted reality behind it; nothing fits; so, just let him insult us all he wants and try to ignore him.
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