Guv may help Clinton with debt, suggests her for VP

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Is Gov. Bill Richardson, who was called “Judas” earlier this year for endorsing Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, trying to make amends? Richardson caught attention this weekend by telling ABC News on Sunday following an event in Chicago that he may help raise money to retire Clinton’s presidential campaign debt by holding a fundraiser for her in New Mexico later this year. “We’ve been asked to help. So in principle we are going to help,” Richardson told ABC. “I think the party needs to come together.” Richardson also caught attention on Saturday in Florida, where he told WPBF-TV in West Palm Beach that, if Obama doesn’t pick him to be his running mate, he believes Clinton “would make a strong running mate for Obama.” Richardson, who was appointed by Clinton’s husband to two high positions in his administration in the 1990s, was called Judas by Clinton backer James Carville shortly after he endorsed Obama earlier this year. Continue Reading

Hybrid giveaway is part of effort to defeat Pearce

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This posting originally stated that the Las Cruces event would be held Wednesday, but the group changed the day to Thursday, so the posting has been updated. A group that is working to elect Democrat Tom Udall to the U.S. Senate this year is using rising gas prices and a hybrid-vehicle giveaway to gain attention. As part of its “Wrong 4 New Mexico” campaign — in reference to Udall’s opponent, Republican Steve Pearce — Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund is unveiling its giveaway of a Toyota Prius today in Santa Fe. The car is decorated in an anti-Pearce theme. The group — and its car — will be in Las Cruces on Thursday to promote the giveaway. Continue Reading

The left-wing bias of the mainstream media

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By Dan Foley I was going through some of my favorite web sites just the other day and I came across an article the Heritage Foundation had up about Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. It claimed Dodd had been exposed by Bank of America personnel. They showed copies of a letter written by their company that wound up, word for word, as the exact bill he is carrying to bail out the banking industry. Now I am sure you are saying to yourself, why is this worth writing about since all politicians are on the take? The fact is the only ones who have such allegations made against them in the mainstream media are the conservatives. Continue Reading

Obama airs new ad in N.M. and other states

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Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s newest TV ad began airing in New Mexico and 17 other states on Monday. Here’s the 30-second spot: The ad, titled “Dignity,” talks about Obama’s past, stating that he “worked his way through college and Harvard Law” and “turned down big money offers and helped lift neighborhoods stung by job loss.” Continue Reading

Most voters in poll pick Luján to win CD3 race

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The majority of those who voted in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site said Democrat Ben R. Luján will win the 3rd Congressional District race. Of 232 voters, 151, or 65 percent, picked Luján, while 59, or 25 percent, said Republican Dan East will win; 19, or 8 percent, said independent Carol Miller will win; and three, or 1 percent, said independent Ron Simmons will win. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading

Udall says he can win in Pearce’s 2nd District

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Despite the 2nd Congressional District’s slant toward Republican candidates, Democratic Senate hopeful Tom Udall plans to win the southern region that his GOP opponent, Steve Pearce, has represented in the House since 2003. Udall has a chance at winning here, but the 2nd District is one Pearce could also win, said New Mexico State University government professor Jose Z. Garcia. Polls have repeatedly shown Udall with a double-digit lead over Pearce statewide, but Garcia said the 2nd District will be hotly contested because of its conservative nature and familiarity with Pearce. The key to victory in the 2nd District will likely be Doña Ana County, Garcia said. Though the east side has historically been more important, a population shift has changed the dynamics in the district. Continue Reading

Many N.M. politicos praise overturning of D.C. gun ban

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Many New Mexico politicians lined up today to praise the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to affirm the right of Americans to have guns in their homes for self-defense. Failing to comment on the first time in history that the high court has declared an individual right to possess a gun, however, was New Mexico’s gun-toting Gov. Bill Richardson. The high court made the ruling by striking down a Washington, D.C. ban on handguns in homes and requirements that other firearms be equipped with trigger locks or disassembled. You can read more from the Associated Press. New Mexico’s two U.S. Senate candidates praised the decision. Continue Reading

High court strikes down Millionaire’s Amendment

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The U.S. Supreme Court today struck down the so-called Millionaire’s Amendment that tripled contribution limits for candidates whose opponents dug deep into their own pockets to fund their campaigns. In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled that the law violated the First Amendment because it gave a fundraising advantage to opponents of those who used personal funds to finance campaign speech, the Associated Press reported. In this year’s primaries in New Mexico, three federal candidates — 2nd Congressional District Republican candidate Aubrey Dunn, 2nd Congressional District Democratic candidate Harry Teague and 3rd Congressional District Democratic candidate Don Wiviott — triggered the amendment by contributing more than $350,000 to their own campaigns. That tripled contribution limits for their opponents to $6,900 for the primary. Teague won his race, but Wiviott and Dunn went on to lose to opponents who were able to boost their fundraising because of the increased contribution limits. Continue Reading

GOP warns against registering to vote with ACORN

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The state Republican Party is cautioning against registering to vote with workers employed by ACORN. “Voters who would like to register to vote would be better served by contacting their county or state Republican or Democratic parties or their county clerk,” Adam Feldman, the state GOP executive director, said in a news release. The GOP joins the Doña Ana County Bureau of Elections in expressing concern about the non-profit group, which has had two problems in the county in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the county warned that it had received complaints about misleading voter-registration activities by ACORN employees, a charge ACORN denied. And about a week ago, 90 completed voter-registration applications were stolen from ACORN’s Las Cruces office. Continue Reading

Udall votes against cutting nuclear-weapons funding

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U.S. Rep. Tom Udall voted on Wednesday against funding cuts for Los Alamos National Laboratory, a move that earned him criticism because he said last year, in voting for cuts at the lab, that LANL needs to shift its focus from nuclear weapons to alternative energy and other work. The Democratic congressman’s opponent in the U.S. Senate race, Republican Steve Pearce, criticized Udall in a news release, saying Udall’s “flip flop” is another example of his “election-year transformation.” “It is, of course, good to know that he has changed his position and now supports what I have been supporting for many years,” Pearce said. “But it is shocking to recognize that he voted for the same exact cuts just last year.” Udall refused an interview request from the Albuquerque Journal but put out a statement explaining his vote. In it, he said he remains committed to shifting the mission of the labs. “And although this legislation contains many good provisions, it does not provide a path to the future for our national laboratories, and I could not support it,” Udall said. Continue Reading

Obama and McCain: reformers or more of the same?

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Barack Obama and John McCain claim to be candidates of principle and reform. But the actions of both related to public financing in the presidential race raise doubts. Obama broke a previous pledge last week and announced that he would opt out of the public-financing system for presidential candidates. On a practical level, it wasn’t surprising: The Democrat has displayed a rare ability to raise huge amounts of money from average Americans, and that would have been hindered by accepting public financing. But reducing the influence of money in politics is central to Obama’s “Change We Can Believe In” slogan and the message of his presidential campaign. Continue Reading

A primer on planning and people

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By Dr. James “Jim” Kadlecek “My right to swing my arm ends where my neighbor’s nose begins.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes Living in the Rio Grande valley along scenic Highway 28 allows me to view a veritable panorama of American life as it passes by on the road in front of my home. Each early morning, the tillers of the soil pass by on the way to the fields of chile, cotton or corn, driving their mammoth tractors and tugging expensive farm equipment. Following, and frustrated at the slow pace of the farmer, is a young woman on her way to her job in the city. Coming the other way from the city is a gaggle of bicyclists, all decked out in skin-tight athletic-bike attire, heads protected by colorfully striped helmets. They have their heads down and are peddling madly, obsessed with their heart-pumping endeavor. Continue Reading

Completed voter-registration forms stolen from group

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Ninety completed voter-registration applications that included Social Security numbers and dates of birth were stolen over the weekend from the Las Cruces office of an independent voter-registration group. As a result, ACORN plans to send letters to those whose applications were stolen to inform them of the situation. The letters will include blank applications that can be filled out and mailed directly to the county clerk’s office. The group has the ability to send such letters because it keeps track of the information of those it registers “in order to ensure they get placed successfully on the voter rolls,” according to a news release from the group. “We don’t want anything to stand in the way of new voters participating in the upcoming election,” ACORN Board Member Mark Gerring said in the news release, “so while we are outraged that someone would take new voters’ applications, we can at least be sure that all of these future voters can have another opportunity to complete an application and mail it directly to the county clerk.” The burglary was discovered about 8 p.m. Friday. Continue Reading

Guv says he might seek a third term in 2014

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Term limits prevent Gov. Bill Richardson from seeking a third term in 2010, but he may run again when he’s eligible four years later. At least that’s what Richardson wrote today in an e-mail to supporters of his failed presidential campaign. The e-mail solicited money to “keep New Mexico a blue state” and “get as many Democrats elected nationally as possible.” Though Richardson’s presidential campaign still has outstanding debt — more than $285,000 as of May 31 — he wrote in the e-mail that raising money to help elect Democrats “is much more important.” Then he wrote about his own future. “I still have a lot of work to do here in New Mexico before I leave office in 2010 due to term limits, including fighting to extend health care to every New Mexican. And I remain actively involved with national politics because we need to change America and every one of us has to contribute something,” Richardson wrote in the e-mail. Continue Reading

New Udall ad says he has fought for Cannon and LANL

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall will begin airing a new television ad on Wednesday highlighting his work for Cannon Air Force Base and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Here’s the ad: The ad will be controversial because Udall has been attacked for supporting cuts last year at the lab. Udall has said the labs need to shift their focus from nuclear weapons to energy independence and global warming, and his vote was an attempt to push the lab in that direction. He said that will ensure the future sustainability of the lab. Udall says in the ad that he “voted for funding to expand the mission of Los Alamos to create new jobs in counter-terrorism and energy research.” “Tom Udall has fought to protect New Mexico’s economy, job base and families,” campaign manager Amanda Cooper said in a news release. Continue Reading