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Tinsley wants another debate to focus on economy

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Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Ed Tinsley is challenging Democratic opponent Harry Teague to an additional debate to focus specifically on the economy. Tinsley made the challenge in a Thursday news release. “The nation and southern New Mexico are facing the most challenging economic crisis since the Great Depression. Reforming our nation’s financial regulators will dominate the political and policy agenda when a new president and Congress are sworn in just five months from now,” he said. “Our voters deserve to make an informed choice on who they want in Washington representing them during these difficult times. Continue Reading

Someone might be the… like… first dude

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. With Sarah Palin suddenly on the ticket, the media are scrambling to deal with something unlike anything they have previously seen. Not that the media in general are handling this well. An example is the “concern” that Sarah Palin’s husband will be the “first dude.” Actually, Sarah is the VP candidate, so if elected her husband will be the “second dude.” And the “concern” that her husband cannot take care of the children, yada-yada-yada. For the record, I was a stay-at-home dad in the mid-1980s. As a full-time writer working out of our house, it made sense for me to assume the home duties. Continue Reading

Denish to lead rally for Obama at NMSU today

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Lt. Gov. Diane Denish will lead a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama today in Las Cruces. At the Women for Obama rally, Denish and state Rep. Joni Gutierrez, D-Las Cruces, will discuss “Obama’s commitment to equal pay, in addition to his plan to strengthen the economy and lift up New Mexico’s working families,” according to a news release from the Obama campaign. The event will begin at 11:30 a.m. in the auditorium on the second floor of New Mexico State University’s Corbett Center. Continue Reading

New Pearce ad calls Udall ‘breathtakingly liberal’

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Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Pearce is out with a new TV ad hitting his Democratic opponent, Tom Udall, as being “breathtakingly liberal.” Here’s the 30-second spot, which Pearce unveiled today: “Tom Udall. He voted to raise taxes on families and businesses and just about anything that moves,” the ad’s narrator states. “He voted against offshore drilling and nuclear-power development. Udall voted against body armor for our troops in combat. He even voted against banning partial-birth abortions.” “Tom Udall. Continue Reading

With new ad, Obama stoops to same level as McCain

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I wrote last week that Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s campaign was making statement after statement that wasn’t true. Now his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, has stooped to the same level with a misleading and erroneous ad. Here’s the Spanish ad the campaign is airing in New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Florida in an attempt to win over Hispanic voters: For those who don’t speak Spanish, the ad opens with the narrator saying, “They want us to forget the insults we’ve put up with, the intolerance. They made us feel marginalized in this country we love so much.” Meanwhile, the ad shows conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh and gives these quotes from him: “stupid and unskilled Mexicans” and “You shut your mouth or you get out!” Then the narrator says, “John McCain and his Republican friends have two faces — one that says lies just to get our vote, and another, even worse, that continues the policies of George Bush that put special interests ahead of working families. John McCain, more of the same old Republican tricks.” There are big problems with this ad. Continue Reading

CD1 race descends into a nasty battle

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First it was Martin Heinrich who stood accused of ducking a debate earlier this week. On Wednesday, the Democratic 1st Congressional District candidate tried to turn the tables by saying his opponent, Republican Darren White, skipped a forum after confirming his attendance. Heinrich’s attack is the latest in what is becoming an increasingly nasty battle between the two candidates, who are sparring over allegations each has made against the other at the expense of tackling policy stances or major issues of the day — like the economic doldrums affecting the country. In addition to the back and forth over who is attending what, the question of whether Heinrich worked as a lobbyist has dominated the debate over the past week. White has raised the issue that Heinrich was paid to push for creation of the Ojito Wilderness several years ago but didn’t register as a state or federal lobbyist. Continue Reading

Udall moves further ahead in new Senate poll

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall’s lead is growing, according to a new poll released Wednesday. The SurveyUSA poll has Udall leading Republican Steve Pearce 56 percent to 41 percent. The poll of 671 likely voters was conducted Sunday through Tuesday for KOB-TV in Albuquerque and has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points. Udall led by 35 percentage points among Hispanic voters, according to SurveyUSA. The two were tied among white voters.Pearce had the support of 77 percent of Republican voters, while Udall had the support of 81 percent of Democratic voters and a 2-1 lead among independents. Continue Reading

Another poll has Obama leading in NM

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A new poll has Barack Obama leading John McCain by 8 percentage points in New Mexico. The SurveyUSA Poll, released Wednesday, has Obama leading 54 percent to 44 percent. Two percent selected “other” and 1 percent were undecided in the poll, conducted Sunday through Tuesday for KOB-TV in Albuquerque. The survey of 671 likely voters had a margin of error of 3.9 percent. The poll is in line with another released Tuesday by American Research Group that had Obama leading by 7 percentage points in New Mexico. Continue Reading

Sticking it to taxpayers

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By Carter Bundy A form of taxpayer abuse is being exposed at the national level even as New Mexico heads in the wrong direction: government subsidies of massive corporations. The GOP, but also some Dems in Washington, have long supported the idea of feathering the nests of multinational corporations at the expense of taxpayers and American workers. The D.C. politicians do it with lower tax rates when American companies send jobs overseas. They do it when they trap us into trade agreements that encourage companies to move overseas so they can pollute the planet, endanger workers and poison our animals with impunity. Most obviously, they use our money to bail out publicly traded companies when their business model fails. Continue Reading

Tinsley airs first TV ad of general-election season

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Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Ed Tinsley began airing his first television ad of the general-election season on Tuesday, a 30-second spot that’s not unlike introductory ads he ran during the primary. Here’s the new ad: It’s actually a slightly reworked version of an ad he ran during the primary. Click here to view the version he ran in the Roswell area and here to view the version he ran in the Las Cruces area during the primary. “It was a humble beginning in a small sandwich shop. Meredith worked the cash register, and I cooked,” Tinsley says in explaining his start in business. Continue Reading

Palin pick helps change attitudes toward women

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Contrary to what many on the left are saying, the Sarah Palin pick has the potential to positively and dramatically shift attitudes toward women in this country. Those who say otherwise apparently don’t understand how John McCain’s selecting Palin to be the second female vice-presidential candidate in America’s history challenges a huge number of Americans to think outside the box in which they live. Many among the GOP base of religious, conservative voters attend churches in which women aren’t allowed to preach or fill a number of other leadership roles. And yet, many of those same people have become the most excited supporters of the McCain/Palin campaign, and it isn’t because of the social moderate at the top of the ticket. If they’re successful in electing McCain, GOP base voters are setting Palin up to be the likely Republican nominee for president in four or eight years. Continue Reading

Obama tops McCain by 7 points in new NM poll

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A new survey has Barack Obama leading John McCain by 7 percentage points in New Mexico. Obama leads 51 percent to 44 percent in the American Research Group poll released today. Some 5 percent were undecided in the survey of 600 likely voters, which was conducted Sunday through Tuesday. The poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points. Here’s the wording of the question that was asked: “If the general election were being held today between John McCain for president and Sarah Palin for vice president, the Republicans, and Barack Obama for president and Joe Biden for vice president, the Democrats, for whom would you vote — McCain and Palin, Obama and Biden (names rotated), or someone else?” Obama led among Democrats 79 percent to 17 percent, while McCain led among Republicans 89 percent to 7 percent. Continue Reading

Obama talks economy in TV ad; RNC on radio in NM

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Barack Obama is out today with an unusually long television ad in which he talks about the nation’s economic problems, while the Republican National Committee is airing new English and Spanish radio ads promoting John McCain. Obama’s two-minute TV ad begins with him saying the recent financial problems are nothing new for struggling Americans and ending with him saying that “bitter, partisan fights and outworn ideas of the left and right won’t solve the problems we face today, but a new spirit of unity and shared responsibility will.” Here it is: The RNC’s English radio ad, meanwhile, paints McCain as an agent of change because, “in 20-plus years in the Senate, John McCain has never sought an earmark,” while Obama, “in three short years in the Senate,” has “requested nearly $1 billion in earmarks.” Click here to listen to the ad. The RNC’s Spanish radio ad says McCain is a “friend” because he “worked with Republicans and Democrats alike to form immigration legislation” last year. “And while the bill didn’t pass, only McCain demonstrated a real commitment to reforming immigration in a way that honored our laws as well as our immigrants and traditions,” the ad’s narrator states. Obama, the ad claims, didn’t support reform, instead supporting amendments “designed to insert a deadly poison poll to kill the immigration legislation.” Click here to listen to the ad. Continue Reading