Richardson moves ahead of Edwards in N.H. poll

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For the first time, Gov. Bill Richardson has moved past one of the top three Democratic presidential candidates in an independent poll in an important primary state. Richardson is in third place, and two points ahead of John Edwards, in the latest CNN/WMUR/UNH poll released today. The new poll has Hillary Clinton in the lead with 36 percent, Barack Obama at 27 percent, Richardson at 11 percent and Edwards at 9 percent. A month ago, Clinton led with 39 percent, Obama had 24 percent, Edwards had 14 percent and Richardson had 11 percent. So Richardson hasn’t gained any ground in the last month, but Edwards has fallen. Continue Reading

Heinrich, McCamley make important money list

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Martin Heinrich and Bill McCamley are two of 24 Democratic House challengers across the nation who had more than $100,000 on hand at the end of the second quarter of 2007. A poster on the liberal blog MyDD compiled the list of Democratic challengers to GOP incumbents who have that much cash. The poster doesn’t report how much each has beyond $100,000, and he doesn’t rank them, so I did, to get an idea of where Heinrich and McCamley stand. I couldn’t find Federal Election Commission reports for all of the candidates listed, but I did for most, and at least 13 have more money on hand than Heinrich, who had almost $153,000 at the end of the quarter. At least 15 have more on hand than McCamely, who had just over $133,000. Continue Reading

Can guv balance campaign with 2008 Legislature?

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I’ve been thinking today about what the 2008 legislative session is going to look like in light of Gov. Bill Richardson’s presidential run. The governor has raised enough cash so that, no matter what the polls say, he’s likely to be in the race at least through Feb. 5. At least four small states will hold presidential nominating contests in January. So many states are holding their contests on Feb. Continue Reading

Polling analysis site predicts guv will win Iowa

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A well-read national Web site that analyzes polls is predicting that Gov. Bill Richardson will win Iowa’s Jan. 14 caucus – the first-in-the-nation contest that could catapult him to the Democratic nomination. An analysis on USA Election Polls points out that Richardson, six months ago, was at about 1 percent in both Iowa and New Hampshire but, if you average out recent polls in those states, he’s at 9.8 percent in Iowa and 8.7 percent in New Hampshire. The site also considers a recent poll conducted by Fairbank Maslin Maullin and Associates for the Richardson campaign that had him at 13 percent in Iowa and, if only the most likely voters are considered, 18 percent and ahead of Barack Obama in that state. Before the 2004 Iowa Caucus, the site points out, Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt were considered the frontrunners, but they came in third and fourth, respectively, in the state. Continue Reading

Poll should make Richardson supporters nervous

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A new poll of likely Democratic voters in New Hampshire should have supporters of Gov. Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign a little nervous. The poll, conducted by Research 2000 for the Concord Monitor, has Richardson nipping at the heels of John Edwards – at 8 percent to Edwards’ 10 percent – when Al Gore is included. Eliminate Gore, who isn’t running for president, and Edwards’ support jumps to 15 percent. Richardson’s support drops to 7 percent when Gore is not included in the poll. That’s bad news for Richardson because other recent polls in New Hampshire – none as recent as this – found that Richardson and Edwards were nearly tied at 8-10 percent without Gore in the running. Continue Reading

ABQ council candidate needs new e-mail address

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Rey Garduño is running an Albuquerque City Council campaign based on clean elections and ethical government. The Democrat is running for the District 6 seat in the state’s largest city – a seat being vacated by congressional candidate Martin Heinrich. He has the support of many who are fighting for good government in New Mexico and Albuquerque. But Garduño’s latest misstep is cause for concern that the man who is running a campaign based on ethical government may not know how to avoid the appearance of impropriety. It’s one thing to use a government e-mail address to campaign – which he’s doing. Continue Reading

FEC reports give clearer picture of federal races

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Candidates for federal races had to file second-quarter fundraising reports by Sunday, and the money game in New Mexico’s races became clearer with their public release. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who has drawn three lesser-known opponents but no prominent Democratic challenger thus far, raised $650,000 from April to June, the Albuquerque Tribune reported. His report isn’t yet posted on the Federal Election Commission Web site. The senator has $1 million in the bank. U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., raised $393,000 during the quarter. Continue Reading

Veterans’ activist to battle for right to take on Pearce

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A prominent Vietnam veteran who has run unsuccessfully for Congress in the past plans to fight for the right to take on U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M. next year. Democrat Rick Bolaños said he is “absolutely” running and plans to officially declare his candidacy later this week. Until recently, Bolaños lived in east El Paso, and he ran in 2006 against former Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas. Mid-way through that election cycle, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld most of the controversial 2003 Texas redistricting, but forced the redrawing of Bonilla’s district. It also ordered a vote on Election Day 2006 that included all candidates who wanted to run, with a runoff in December if no candidate received 50 percent. Continue Reading

Voters in polls say guv is most and least ethical

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Gov. Bill Richardson won both non-scientific polls posted last week on this site, one for being the most ethical statewide elected official and the other for being the least ethical among the seven politicians. Of 289 voters in the poll about who is most ethical, Richardson received 92 votes, or 32 percent; Attorney General Gary King received 72 votes, or 25 percent; Lt. Gov. Diane Denish received 35 votes, or 12 percent; Treasurer James B. Lewis received 32 votes, or 11 percent; Auditor Hector Balderas received 31 votes, or 11 percent; Land Commissioner Pat Lyons received 24 votes, or 8 percent; and Secretary of State Mary Herrera received three votes, or 1 percent. Of 186 voters in the poll about who is least ethical, Richardson received 76 votes, or 41 percent; Lyons received 73 votes, or 39 percent; Herrera received 17 votes, or 9 percent; Balderas received nine votes, or 5 percent; Denish received six votes, or 3 percent; King received three votes, or 2 percent; and Lewis received two votes, or 1 percent. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading

Another Dem to fight for right to take on Wilson

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Democratic Party insider Bryon Paez has decided to jump into the race for the Democratic nomination to take on U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., next year. A native of Las Vegas, N.M., Paez has worked for Gov. Bill Richardson, the national Democrats and several statewide Democratic candidates. He’s never run for office before. He’s a Marine Corps veteran and, according to the Albuquerque Tribune, served in Somalia and Iraq. The entrance of a Hispanic who is well-known to party insiders makes this race interesting. Continue Reading

Bingaman talks about new emissions bill

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Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s office is working on providing video of certain events for news Web sites. The first is from the senator’s announcement earlier this week of a new bill designed to help combat global warming by reducing emissions. If you want to hear Bingaman talking about the bill, watch the video that’s below. It’s about two minutes long. Continue Reading

Kissling raises $10K, says money gap doesn’t matter

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Congressional candidate Al Kissling’s second-quarter finance report indicates that his expenditures from April to June exceeded his contributions by more than $67,000, but Kissling says the report is incorrect and he has about $8,000 in cash on hand. The report indicates that Kissling raised $10,445 during the quarter, spent $79,686.13 and had a negative cash balance at the end of the period of $67,437.43. Expenditures listed included a payment to the New Mexico Department of Labor of, according to the report, $73,098 – the likely source of the error. “That’s not anywhere near correct,” Kissling said. In fact, he said, he has $8,000 in the bank today, and raised a little more than $10,000 during the second quarter. Continue Reading

Clinton, Edwards seek to disenfranchise voters

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Hillary Clinton and John Edwards want to exclude some of the other Democratic presidential hopefuls from future debates, a move that would disenfranchise a number of Democratic voters. Their remarks, caught on tape by a number of television networks following Thursday’s NAACP debate in Detroit, are outrageous. As reported by the Associated Press, the two spoke at the conclusion of the debate, most likely believing they weren’t in range of an open microphone. “We should try to have a more serious and smaller group,” Edwards told Clinton. She agreed, saying the debates were “trivialized” by some of the other candidates and by having too many on stage. Continue Reading

Judge in Foley case gave $50 to his campaign

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The Roswell judge assigned to hear the case of House Minority Whip Dan Foley, who is scheduled to go to trial next month on charges of disorderly conduct, obstructing an officer and resisting arrest, gave $50 to one Foley’s House re-election campaigns. In addition, Foley is a close friend of a son of Judge Clyde McKee, the Roswell Daily Record is reporting today. McKee, according to the site FollowTheMoney.org, gave $50 to Foley in 2002 or 1998. The year differs on different pages on the Web site. In addition, according to the newspaper, the judge is the father of Michael McKee, who told the newspaper he is “a close personal friend of Dan Foley and a campaign contributor and supporter.” In 2004 alone, Michael McKee gave $1,103 to Foley’s campaign, the newspaper reported. Continue Reading