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Romney says NM voters swinging to McCain, Pearce

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Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he’s confident that undecided New Mexico voters are swinging toward John McCain and Steve Pearce in the final days before the election. “The question is whether we can move them enough that we can win,” Romney said today in a phone interview. The former Massachusetts governor was speaking from Farmington, where he held a rally this morning attended by Pearce, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, and about 250 people. Romney said the energy at the event was good, and he’s becoming increasingly confident about the possibility that McCain and Pearce will win. Romney has spent a great deal of time helping Pearce this year. Continue Reading

McCain to visit Roswell on Monday

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John McCain will make one more stop in New Mexico before Election Day to hold a rally in Roswell on Monday. McCain’s rally will be held at Great Southwest Aviation, 100 Southwest Way. Doors for the event open at 3 p.m., and the program is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. You need a ticket to get in. Click here to get one online. You can also pick up tickets today and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the parking lot of the Roswell Chamber of Commerce, 131 W. 2nd Street in Roswell; and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday at the Chaves County GOP/Victory Headquarters, 200 North Main St. Continue Reading

Location of Clark’s Las Cruces town hall is changed

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Organizers have changed the location of retired Gen. Wesley Clark’s Sunday town-hall meeting in Las Cruces. The event will be held at VFW Post 6917, 5845 Bataan Memorial West, and begins at 4:30 p.m. Clark is campaigning on behalf of Barack Obama. Before that, Clark will hold an event in Roswell beginning at 11 a.m. It will be held at MIA-POW Park, 912. N. Pennsylvania Ave. Continue Reading

Group urges early instead of absentee voting

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A non-partisan voter protection group is recommending that those who haven’t yet received absentee ballots that they requested instead vote early today, and they’re especially concerned about the situation in Doña Ana County. Election Protection, a group made up of representatives from Common Cause, unions and other organizations, says it has received numerous complaints that absentee ballots requested days or weeks ago have still not been received, and says that “appears to be a particularly significant problem in Doña Ana County.” On Thursday, Secretary of State Mary Herrera said she is concerned that workers are stretched too thin in Doña Ana County and said the vast majority of complaints her office received this week came from Doña Ana County and related primarily to absentee voting. The county’s acting elections supervisor, Mario Jimenez, has said his office isn’t understaffed and things are running smoothly. Regardless, in response to the flood of absentee ballots in Doña Ana County and around the state, earlier this week Herrera authorized counties to allow voters who don’t want to wait for their absentee ballots to instead vote in person at early voting sites. Election Protection recommends that voters who have requested but not received their absentee ballots instead vote early today, the last day of early voting, or vote in person on Election Day. Continue Reading

Doña Ana County candidate forums on TV

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If you live in Doña Ana County, you have the opportunity this weekend to watch on television two League of Women Voters candidate forums that were held earlier this month. The forums will be aired continuously from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday on the City of Las Cruces’ cable channel, channel 20 on Comcast Cable. The forums were held on Oct. 14 and 22. Continue Reading

Richardson reignites confusion over Obama tax plan

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Republicans are using a statement Gov. Bill Richardson made today to accuse Barack Obama of lying about tax cuts he has promised most Americans, but a Richardson staffer says the governor simply misspoke in claiming that Obama will cut taxes for those making $120,000 and under. Speaking about Obama’s tax plan, Richardson told a Colorado radio station today that Obama “is basically looking at $120,000 and under, among those that are in the middle class, and there is a tax cut for them.” Obama has laid out his tax plan on his Web site: He claims no family making less than $250,000 annually would see a tax increase under his plan. In a recent TV ad, Obama said Americans who “have a job, pay taxes and make less than $200,000 a year” will get a tax cut. Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley said Richardson misspoke. The governor, he said, “meant to say $250,000.” So, insert that number into Richardson’s quote, and he would have stated that those making less than $250,000 will get a tax cut. Continue Reading

Giuliani event now scheduled to start at 6 p.m.

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The time has been changed for Rudy Giuliani’s Saturday rally in Mesilla. The rally is now scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. It will be held at Public Safety Park, 2670 Calle de Parian. To RSVP, contact Crystal Caballero at ccaballero@mccain08hq.com or (575) 528-1101. Giuliani is one of three big-name surrogates to visit New Mexico this weekend. Mitt Romney will be in Farmington and Albuquerque. Continue Reading

The vote-early-and-vote-often state

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. “The time has come for all good men to rise above principle.” – Former Louisiana Gov. Huey Long It usually gets a wry laugh when people say that we should “Vote early and often.” Some think it describes New Mexico. Chicago Mayor William Thompson said it around 1920, and it was repeated by Chicago Gangster Al Capone and, in the 60s, by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. My Chicago friends laugh about the quote and then quote from the movie Lonesome Dove: “A man who wouldn’t cheat for a poke don’t want one bad enough.” And W. C. Fields: “Anything worth having is a thing worth cheating for.” The underlying principle is, “The ends justify the means.” These people feel they cannot trust “The Citizens” to elect the “right” candidates. Much like in Lake Wobegon High School, as Garrison Keillor writes, where the homecoming queen is elected by a secret vote that is counted by the teacher who discards the “wrong votes” so the “right” candidate wins. We Americans have a pristine view of elections in the abstract and a Chicago view in the practical. Continue Reading

Herrera concerned about election in Doña Ana County

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County official says his office is handling the flood of absentee ballot requests and will be fine on Tuesday The secretary of state says she’s concerned that the election may not run smoothly in Doña Ana County on Tuesday unless more help is brought in, but the man in charge of the county’s election says things are going well and will be fine on Election Day. Mary Herrera said in an interview that her office has received a large volume of complaints this week from people having problems in Doña Ana County, primarily with absentee voting. Herrera said the county’s acting elections supervisor, Mario Jimenez, and his staff are doing an excellent job, she believes they are stretched to thin. “I don’t think they have enough people, and it’s just not fair to the voters,” Herrera said on Thursday. Jimenez took issue with Herrera’s assessment of the situation. Continue Reading

Giuliani, Gen. Clark to campaign in southern NM

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Two former presidential hopefuls will campaign for current candidates for the nation’s top job this weekend in southern New Mexico. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be in Mesilla on Saturday evening for a rally in support of John McCain. And retired Gen. Wesley Clark will hold town-hall meetings in Roswell and Las Cruces on Sunday on behalf of Barack Obama. The rallies are the latest in a string of campaign events during the last three weekends of the election that reveal the presidential campaigns’ focus on southern New Mexico. Two weekends ago, Joe Biden was in Mesilla and Sarah Palin was in Roswell. Continue Reading

The wind and the sun

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By Carter Bundy I was skeptical about Barack Obama’s infomercial. While no one likes prevent defense, at the very least most of us understand that with a lead and time running out, you don’t start throwing the ball down the field. But Obama’s got a pretty strong fearless streak. In the third debate, he exemplified his willingness to tackle any issue head-on when he spoke about his plans for reducing abortion. Many pro-choice candidates tend to duck abortion, knowing that there is some segment of the population who vote pro-life to the exclusion of every other issue. Continue Reading

Obama, Udall have big leads in new NM poll

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The newest poll has Barack Obama leading John McCain by 10 percentage points in New Mexico. It’s a Rasmussen Reports poll released Wednesday that has Obama ahead 54 percent to 44 percent. The survey of 500 likely voters was conducted Tuesday and has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points. Rasmussen Reports’ newest poll also has Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall leading Republican Steve Pearce by 15 points, 56 percent to 41 percent. The poll has the same sample size and margin of error as the presidential poll. Continue Reading

New Udall TV ad makes his closing argument

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall’s “closing argument” is an ad that highlights what a news release from his campaign calls “his record of doing what’s right for New Mexico.” Here’s the ad, which was unveiled today: “For our state and country, this election matters more than most. Tom Udall is determined to do what’s right for New Mexico,” the ad’s narrator states. “As New Mexico’s attorney general, Tom Udall passed a landmark DWI law with a lower blood-alcohol limit. In Congress, he helped pass the new G.I. bill. And in the Senate, Tom Udall will fight to make the economy work for the middle-class again. Continue Reading

Romney to campaign for McCain in ABQ, Farmington

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Former GOP presidential candidate and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will be in Farmington and Albuquerque on Saturday to hold rallies in support of John McCain. Romney’s New Mexico trip begins with a 9 a.m. rally in Farmington. It will be held at the Farmington Museum, 3041 E. Main Street. The Albuquerque rally for Romney begins at 12:30 p.m. It will be held at the Albuquerque Hilton, 1901 University Boulevard. To RSVP, contact Kelly Rzendzian at krzendzian@mccain08hq.com or (505) 715-4311. Continue Reading