Obama needs to win New Mexico, his campaign says

Top GOP official also talks about the state’s importance in presidential race

Barack Obama’s campaign says almost every scenario that would give him the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency in November requires beating John McCain in New Mexico.

That’s why the campaign of the Democratic presidential candidate has already opened 23 offices around the state and is giving attention to rural areas that have never received much attention in presidential races, including Anthony, Raton and Shiprock.

Democrat Al Gore won New Mexico by 366 votes in 2000. In 2004, New Mexico flipped red, with President Bush narrowly winning by 5,988 votes.

Steve Hildebrand, Obama’s deputy campaign manager, said on a conference call on Tuesday with reporters that the campaign will focus on population centers including Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces, but what’s unusual about the campaign is its focus on and early success in rural areas.

“We believe that with a very strong, very active and very New Mexico-centered campaign, Barack will be in a very good position to win this state come November,” Hildebrand said. To back it up, his campaign released a document highlighting its blueprint for victory here.

Adrian Saenz, Obama’s New Mexico director, said during the call that on Tuesday the campaign had 4,038 active volunteers in New Mexico, with a quarter of them living in rural areas. He said 34,000 New Mexicans have signed up to receive Obama campaign e-mails, with a third of those people living in rural areas.

The campaign is opening its 24th office today in Española and plans additional offices in cities including Carlsbad and Roswell.

“We are making every effort to get into every region of the state, and not just establish a presence but get to know the region,” Saenz said.

GOP is ready to do battle

Republican National Committee Deputy Chairman Frank Donatelli said in an interview that Obama and the Democrats might top McCain and the GOP in spending in New Mexico, but the RNC’s victory campaign has been in place through several election cycles and has a strong system for targeting voters. It helps coordinate the state and national Republican parties with the McCain campaign to ensure efficiency and a consistent message.

“I don’t know that we’re going to match Obama dollar for dollar, but we will work more effectively,” he said. “… We’re going to have a large number of offices too. … We’ll have a large presence, a large number of staffers here.”

Neither the Obama campaign nor Donatelli would release staffing numbers.

Donatelli was in New Mexico on Tuesday to meet with state officials and help coordinate the campaign. He said the meetings were productive and he’s confident about McCain’s chances in New Mexico. He said the GOP will direct significant resources to the state.

“It’ll be enough to get the job done,” he said. “… I am very optimistic. I think we’re seeing the energy issue cutting in New Mexico the same way it’s cutting in the rest of the country.”

Some 60-70 percent of Americans say in polls that they support increased domestic and offshore drilling — a position more commonly associated with Republicans.

“I don’t know if we’re a couple of points ahead or a couple of points behind at this point, but that doesn’t really matter,” Donatelli said. “What matters is that we’re on the right side of the issues.”

‘An unprecedented showing of grass-roots support’

But Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who was on the Obama conference call, said it’s Obama whose message is resonating with New Mexicans. She just returned from a two-week tour of rural New Mexico and said everywhere she went she found some level of organization for the Obama campaign.

“It’s clear to me that New Mexicans are ready for change. I think there’s an unprecedented showing of grass-roots support,” Denish said.

Daniel Vela, the college Democrats’ president at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, is a volunteer for the Obama campaign and participated in today’s conference call.

“There seems to be a good base of support here, and this is a conservative area, so I have no doubt that Barack has a good chance of winning New Mexico,” Vela said.

Last weekend the Obama campaign conducted a statewide canvass with more than 1,000 volunteers. One of the largest outreaches was in Raton, which Saenz said was “somewhat shocking to us, but it was a great indicator of the level of support around the state.”

Just as Donatelli promised that McCain will spend more time in New Mexico before November, Saenz said the same about Obama, though he said it’s too early to say where or when he’ll visit.