Domenici aims to discourage potential challengers

U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici is going to report Monday that he has already raised $500,000 for the 2008 campaign, and his aides are touting the total in an effort to keep potential competitors away.

The Albuquerque Tribune is reporting that Domenici has raised $393,000 this year and hopes to have more than $1 million by June. He plans to raise more than $4 million for the race.

“It shows he’s running an aggressive campaign,” Domenici’s campaign finance director, Heidi Fuller, was quoted by the Tribune as saying.

Federal reports, including those for presidential candidates, must be filed by Monday.

No one has stepped forward to challenge Domenici, but concerns about his health, coupled with the nagging U.S. attorney scandal and the pending ethics inquiry, have fueled speculation that Democrats might seek a serious challenger. Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias alleges that Domenici, in a phone call last October, tried to pressure him to speed indictments in a public corruption investigation to sway voters in the November election.

One person recruited by some Democrats is state Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans, who is considering instead challenging U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M. Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who plans to run for governor in 2010, has also resisted pressure to get into the race.

A blogger who keeps an eye on U.S. Senate races has suggested that U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., should challenge Domenici. He’s not alone: A source in Washington tells me that “the strong feeling of Democrats at a national level is that Tom Udall would be the strongest contender in this race.”

But Udall told me in January he’s not interested, and his press secretary referred me back to that statement when I asked today if anything had changed.

“We have nothing new to add at this time,” Marissa Padilla told me today.

Besides presidential candidate Bill Richardson, Udall is the only potential candidate who doesn’t have to be in a hurry to get into the race: He can raise money for his congressional campaign and use it to run for Senate if he decided later to go that route.

A cardinal mistake

I should note that Fuller, speaking to the Tribune, made a cardinal mistake: In response to a question about why senators from many other states raise much more money for re-election campaigns, she said Domenici has an easier time because New Mexico only has one television market that broadcasts to the entire state.

“Comparing New Mexico races to other states is like apples and oranges,” the Tribune quoted her as saying.

Wrong! Doña Ana County – which represents one-tenth of the state’s population – is in the El Paso television market, thank you very much. We should get Albuquerque television stations, in addition to those from El Paso. Clovis has such a dual-market situation.

But it would take the work of Domenici and others in Washington to make that happen. Maybe the senator should get to work on that.