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Details released for McCain, Clinton visits

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John McCain’s wife Cindy will join him for Saturday’s rally in Mesilla, the campaign announced today in releasing details about the visit. In addition, McCain’s New Mexico campaign manager, Marta Kramer, confirmed in an e-mail what I already reported: McCain will also make a stop in Albuquerque on Saturday. Kramer didn’t release additional details. And the campaign of Barack Obama has released details about Hillary Clinton’s Saturday rally in Sunland Park. The Mesilla rally for McCain begins at 3:30 p.m. on the Mesilla Plaza. Continue Reading

Super Saturday: Obama to join McCain, Clinton in NM

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Call it Super Saturday. Barack Obama plans to join John McCain and Hillary Clinton in holding rallies across New Mexico on Saturday, Obama’s campaign announced today. And though McCain’s campaign hasn’t confirmed it, a number of GOP sources report that McCain plans to hold a rally in Albuquerque on Saturday morning or early afternoon before heading to Mesilla for a second rally that begins at 3:30 p.m. So here’s what to expect: McCain in Albuquerque Saturday morning or early afternoon. Obama in Albuquerque sometime on Saturday. McCain in Mesilla around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Continue Reading

Obama’s fiscal sanity

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By Carter Bundy Last week I promised I’d provide a little of the math behind how we can save hundreds of billions of dollars with an Obama administration and Democratic filibuster-proof Senate, simply by changing one part of one law. Allowing Medicare D to negotiate for bulk purchasing rates, a core fiscal conservative principle if there ever was one, will do just that. Volume, volume, volume A few facts: Medicare D is going to be by far the largest consumer of prescription drugs anywhere in the world. Also, the marginal cost of making each pill for most drugs is almost de minimis. Ingredients, energy and other overhead, packaging, marketing and distribution won’t amount to more than a few pennies per pill. Continue Reading

Hillary to campaign for Obama in Sunland Park

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Sunland Park will be the site of Hillary Clinton’s Saturday rally for Barack Obama in southern New Mexico, the campaign announced tonight in a news release. The release stated that additional details will be announced at a later time. The city is some 40 miles south of Las Cruces, so Clinton will avoid being in the same metropolitan area as John McCain, who is holding a rally on Saturday in Mesilla. A local McCain staffer told the Las Cruces Sun-News that the Mesilla rally will begin at 3:30 p.m. In 2007, the Census estimated that Sunland Park had a population of 14,225 people. It is 96 percent Hispanic, and 93 percent “speak a language other than English at home,” according to the Census. Continue Reading

Obama, modern liberals and an assault on free speech

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By Dan Foley In a widely reported campaign event earlier this month, this is what Barack Obama said before a cheering crowd in Elko, Nev.: “I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.” As columnist Michael Barone has observed, Obama and his most radical Left-wing supporters are doing a lot more then getting into people’s faces. Obama supporters did just that in Chicago, after they were told in e-mails to try to suppress social commentator Stanley Kurtz. Kurtz had been researching Obama’s relationship with the unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayers. Continue Reading

White’s new ad hits Heinrich over lobbyist flap

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Republican 1st Congressional District candidate Darren White’s new TV ad is a hard-hitting, negative assault that accuses Democratic opponent Martin Heinrich of breaking the law. Here’s the 30-second spot, which the White campaign released today: “Martin Heinrich: Running a false campaign to hide his record,” the ad’s narrator states. “For years, Heinrich illegally ran an unlicensed business. While on city council, he broke city laws. Heinrich was a special-interest lobbyist. Continue Reading

Presidential campaigns turn attention to southern NM

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It appears that Barack Obama and John McCain believe New Mexico’s five electoral votes hinge on what happens in the southern region of the state on Nov. 4. With visits to the south by Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, Bill Richardson, McCain and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns are focusing on the south in the home stretch of the battle for New Mexico. That appears to mirror a national shift as Obama goes on the offensive in traditionally conservative areas. Richardson said there’s a good reason to focus on the south. Continue Reading

Fixing our problems starts with changing Washington

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By Bill McCamley So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the government’s bailout of Wall Street, and whether or not it is a good thing. As much as I’ve tried, it has been very difficult to come up with a definitive opinion. On one hand, without this action the amount of credit available for everything from student loans to mortgages to small businesses will be completely cut off. This would probably lead the economy to a grinding halt. On the other hand, I share the reservations of many that bailing out the greedy Wall Street fat cats responsible for much of this problem is not right. Furthermore, I’m no communist, and I do not think that the proper role of government in a market economy is to run the very platform on which most business is based. Continue Reading

Is McCain giving up on NM? It doesn’t look like it

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Is John McCain giving up on New Mexico? That’s what CNN’s John King is reporting, but there are lots of signs that McCain is still working hard to win the state’s five electoral votes, including a possible Saturday visit by the Republican presidential candidate to Mesilla. This is what King reported today: “With two weeks left, they are making the tough decisions inside the McCain camp. And they are beginning to look at some states that they thought they could win, and some states they even thought they had to win, and beginning to think that they are drifting away,” King said in a video report you can watch by clicking here. “Most people top in the McCain campaign now believe New Mexico and Iowa are gone, that Barack Obama will win New Mexico and Iowa. Continue Reading

Luján’s new TV ad highlights PRC experience

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Third Congressional District Democratic candidate Ben Ray Luján is out with a new TV ad highlighting his experience as chairman of the state’s Public Regulation Commission. Here’s the 30-second spot: “I believe leadership means taking a stand,” Luján says in the ad. “That’s what I did as the PRC chairman, when we forced Qwest to give millions back to consumers and fought hard to make our state a leader in alternative energy. In Congress, I’ll stand up for New Mexico to make health care more affordable, create new jobs and end the war in Iraq.” Continue Reading

Teague says harassment lawsuit has been resolved

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Democratic 2nd Congressional District candidate Harry Teague says a lawsuit accusing him of ignoring a sexual harassment complaint filed by an employee against a top manager at one of his companies has been resolved. Teague made the announcement during a Sunday debate against his opponent, Republican Ed Tinsley. “You were sued for a sexual harassment case by an employee of yours, and yet it remains unresolved,” Tinsley said during the debate. Teague responded by saying he wanted to be “real clear about that.” “When I heard about that instance in my company, I was concerned,” Teague said. “I was real concerned because we don’t allow that type of behavior in my company. Continue Reading

Voter registration skyrockets in Doña Ana County

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The number of registered voters in Doña Ana County has increased by more than 27,000 since 2004, the county’s Bureau of Elections is reporting. The county released statistics today on the number of people eligible to vote in the upcoming Nov. 4 election. The number of new registered voters since 2004 — 27,307 — accounts for more than 25 percent of the total number of people registered to vote in the county. The biggest gain has been among independents and people who declined to state a party affiliation. Continue Reading

NYT: Obama is coming back to New Mexico

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Barack Obama will return to New Mexico to campaign before the Nov. 4 election, the New York Times is reporting. Obama, armed with momentum in the polls and the endorsement of Colin Powell, which he picked up on Sunday, is planning to focus “most of his time over the next 15 days in states that President Bush won” in 2004, according to the article — Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia. The article revealed no additional details about Obama coming to New Mexico, and the campaign has not confirmed another visit. Obama has been in the state five times this year to campaign. Continue Reading

Palin attacks Obama, rallies the GOP base

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ROSWELL — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin broke little new ground during her rally here on Sunday, but that wasn’t her goal: She made a quick trip to the “Little Texas” corner of the state to rally conservative base voters. And rally the GOP base she did. Palin devoted much of her speech to attacking Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, accusing him of favoring socialism with a plan to redistribute wealth and questioning his ties to the controversial voter-registration group ACORN. “Sen. Obama said he wants to spread the wealth. What that means is he wants the government to take your money and let a politician decide how to spend it,” Palin told those in attendance at the rally. Continue Reading

Hillary coming to southern NM for Obama

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Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will campaign for Barack Obama in southern New Mexico on Saturday. The Obama campaign released no additional details about the visit, but the last time it announced a visit to southern New Mexico, it was Friday’s trip by Joe Biden, which ended up being a stop in Mesilla. Asked if “southern New Mexico” means that Clinton will visit the Doña Ana County area, an Obama campaign spokeswoman said the campaign doesn’t yet have that information. Clinton is scheduled to appear at a rally in Utah at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, so it’s likely that the visit to southern New Mexico will take place in the afternoon or evening. Clinton visited Española several weeks ago to campaign for Obama. Continue Reading