Rawson leads; other Doña Ana County races are close

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In Doña Ana County, the only race that was expected to be close that, at least thus far, isn’t is the state Senate contest between Republican Leonard Lee Rawson and Democrat Steve Fischmann. With 46 percent of precincts reporting in Doña Ana County, the presidential, U.S. Senate, 2nd Congressional District, clerk and treasurer races are all within 3 percentage points. I’m guessing, based on a look at the numbers, that the votes that have been counted come from more Republican-leaning than Democratic-leaning precincts. I expect all of these races to swing to Democrats are more votes are counted. While we don’t know exactly which precincts have been counted, the news appears to look good for Rawson, who is leading 58 percent to 42 percent at this point. Continue Reading

A True Blue New Mexico looks like a real possibility

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Things look really good for Democrats right now. According to the networks, Barack Obama has won New Mexico. According to CNN, Democrat Harry Teague is winning the 2nd Congressional District race with 52 percent of the vote to Republican opponent Ed Tinsley’s 48 percent. That’s with 19 percent of precincts reporting. Democrat Martin Heinrich is leading Republican Darren White in the 1st District race 53 percent to 47 percent. Continue Reading

Teague’s chances look good based on early numbers

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Things are looking very good for Democratic 2nd Congressional District candidate Harry Teague, but it’s still early. Teague split Eddy County’s vote with Republican opponent Ed Tinsley 50-50, according to The Associated Press tally. And he’s not trailing Tinsley by a huge margin in Tinsley’s home county — Lincoln — where Tinsley leads 55 percent to 45 percent. Teague has a 2-point lead in conservative Lea County, where he’s from. It’s way too early to call this race, but keep in mind that Doña Ana County should be a big win for Teague, and it’s the most populous county in the district. Continue Reading

What’s going on in Doña Ana County?

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I’ve been inundated with calls and e-mails asking what’s happening in Doña Ana County, particularly with the absentee-ballot snafu. The short answer is this: Don’t expect to know a lot any time soon. Early voting results were still being processed this afternoon. It’s not clear how soon we’ll have those numbers. Voting from polling sites will roll in throughout the night. Continue Reading

NBC News says McCain wins Georgia

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Another important state, Georgia, will be won by John McCain, NBC News is reporting. The state was one that leaned toward McCain but one in which many believed Barack Obama might win if he was headed toward a landslide victory across the nation. The state comes with 15 electoral votes. More to come. Continue Reading

Networks say Obama wins Pennsylvania

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ABC and NBC are projecting that Barack Obama will win Pennsylvania, a state both campaigns said was very important to their strategies. John McCain trailed in the polls in the state, which has 21 electoral votes, but hoped he would be able to carry it in case things went Obama’s way in several smaller battleground states, including New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada in the West. Is this an early indication that things are going Obama’s way? Time will tell. Continue Reading

A last hurrah or a victory send-off?

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John McCain made one final, quick stop in Albuquerque this afternoon to greet 75-100 supporters working a phone bank and briefly speak to a crowd that had gathered outside the GOP office. McCain, according to The Associated Press, told the workers at the phone bank that his campaign is seeing strong turnout in GOP areas of Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, all battleground states. “Things are looking good, but it’s very early. Then you’ve got to move west, my friends, and we’ve got to win New Mexico,” The Associated Press quoted McCain as saying. You can watch video of McCain greeting supporters outside the GOP office in Albuquerque by clicking here. Continue Reading

Though he tried, college student won’t get to vote

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Absentee ballot from Doña Ana County never arrived at 20-year-old’s residence in Washington, D.C. Philip Zakahi is a 20-year-old college student living in Washington, D.C. who has voted in every election since he was old enough and had hoped to vote for Barack Obama this year. Instead, Zakahi, a student at American University, is going to have to deal with the disappointment of not being able to vote in this election. Zakahi is one of an unknown number of people who is registered to vote in Doña Ana County but won’t be able to vote because they never received the absentee ballots they requested. The county said this morning that 3,844 people who had requested absentee ballots hadn’t yet voted, and the fear is that, when the dust settles on this election, hundreds or even thousands of them may have been disenfranchised. The problem is at least in part attributable to the fact that the county didn’t comply with a law requiring that absentee ballots be mailed out within 24 hours of the office receiving requests for the ballots. Continue Reading

Watch TV coverage of the election right here

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There are lots of ways you can get election news this evening. One is by keeping your eyes on Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics. I’ll have updates throughout the evening and night. In addition, to make it easier for you, I’m embedding video of MSNBC’s live coverage of the election. Here it is: To keep this article with the video open all night, click on the “permalink” link at the end of the posting. Continue Reading

Election Day voting appears to be running smoothly

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I’ve already reported the bad news in Doña Ana County about the thousands of absentee ballots that are still outstanding. Now it’s time for some relatively good news: Election Day voting appears to be running fairly smoothly, and turnout is good, several voters and people working the election say. County spokesman Jess Williams said all 117 polling places opened on time this morning. A few poll workers were late or didn’t show up, but Bureau of Elections staffers went to those sites to help. According to The Associated Press, the election appears to be running fairly smoothly statewide. Continue Reading

Absentee ballot snafu: How many won’t get to vote?

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Doña Ana County says Monday statement was erroneous; thousands of absentee ballots are outstanding This article has been updated. Despite what Doña Ana County said on Monday, nearly 4,000 absentee ballots haven’t been returned to the Bureau of Elections. At this point, it’s certain some people who tried to vote won’t be able to do it. How many people is the question. And that has some worrying that the people who don’t get to vote could be the difference in a close race. Continue Reading

Vote today: You can change our nation

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This article has been updated.It was just over 13 months ago, on Oct. 3, 2007, that the Washington Post broke the news that Pete Domenici would retire this year after 36 years in the U.S. Senate. Thus began the wildest political roller coaster ride in the state’s history At that point, the energy surrounding the presidential race already promised to make this a historic year. But Domenici’s retirement led to four of five seats in the New Mexico delegation opening up, and it turned a small swing state into ground zero for the 2008 election. Doña Ana County appears to be ground zero in New Mexico. Continue Reading