Lehrman to formally announce longshot Senate bid

Alternative media publisher and editor Leland Lehrman will make official his longshot bid for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Pete Domenici with an announcement on Friday.

Lehrman plans to make the announcement at the rotunda in the Roundhouse in Santa Fe at noon, and hold an interview with reporters beginning 30 minutes before that. He also plans a party at 7:30 p.m. at the Green Palace, 209 E. Palace Ave. in Santa Fe.

Lehrman has a tough road ahead. He’s facing Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez and U.S. Rep. Tom Udall in the primary and, if he somehow gets past them, would have to take on either U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce or Heather Wilson in the general election. Though he shares many of Udall’s political views, Lehrman decided to stay in the race after Udall entered it because the congressman doesn’t support the impeachment of the president and vice president.

“New Mexico’s leaders, including Senate candidate Tom Udall, have recently been asked to step forward and provide this leadership and representation, but they have failed,” Lehrman said in a release. “Whether it be impeachment, exposing the propagandistic ‘War on Terror’ or aggressively changing the mission of Los Alamos National Labs to end the homegrown terror of nuclear warfare, our local and national leaders have failed, and it is time they be challenged.”

Lehrman said he is a “family man and farmer, a citizen, an ecological and peace activist, and now an editor and publisher.” He was a voting member of the state’s election reform task force that helped implement the new paper-ballot system, and also led the lobbying effort last year for a bill in the state Senate supporting the impeachment of the president and vice president.

“Still, some wonder at my motivation, and question my credentials to hold office,” he said. “In these dangerous times, courage is the most important of the qualities necessary in a senator: the courage to filibuster war, corporate globalization and assaults on our civil liberties.”

In his release, he criticized Udall, saying he has been unwilling to represent the state’s Democrats, who voted in March 2006 to support impeaching the president.

“How does Udall respond to the voice of the people? He votes to table the impeachment resolution that the courageous Representative Dennis Kucinich and 85 other Democrats brought to the floor of Congress just weeks ago,” Lehrman said. “Two things are necessary in a leader: the willingness to represent the people and to be courageous in time of crisis. I wish I could believe Tom Udall was such a leader, but his actions prove otherwise.”

“If you can’t trust your representatives to represent you on the issues, you have to run against them,” he said. “That’s what democracy requires of its citizens, and if our cherished form of government is to be successful, good people, not just professional politicians, must run for office and win.”

Lehrman was recently interviewed on the New Mexico in Focus program in Albuquerque about his candidacy. You can watch the show by clicking here.