{"id":19914,"date":"2010-07-26T13:59:39","date_gmt":"2010-07-26T19:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=19914"},"modified":"2010-07-27T08:08:57","modified_gmt":"2010-07-27T14:08:57","slug":"for-dems-martinez-may-be-the-%e2%80%98most-frightening%e2%80%99-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/07\/for-dems-martinez-may-be-the-%e2%80%98most-frightening%e2%80%99-candidate\/","title":{"rendered":"For Dems, Martinez may be the \u2018most frightening\u2019 candidate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Susana Martinez<\/p><\/div>\n

Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez<\/a> may be the \u201cmost frightening\u201d candidate in the nation for Democrats in 2010, writes Molly Ball on Slate.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition, the Washington Post\u2019s Chris Cillizza has added the New Mexico gubernatorial race to the list of contests that are most likely to result in a party switch<\/a> this fall.<\/p>\n

That means the national media is starting to pay attention to what has already been clear in New Mexico: Martinez and Democrat Diane Denish<\/a> are locked in a hotly contested gubernatorial race that probably leans in Martinez\u2019s favor, at least for the time being.<\/p>\n

And it matters beyond the usual reasons gubernatorial races matter: The next governor will have to approve redistricting (which includes congressional districts) and will be a prominent voice in the national immigration debate. In addition, if Martinez wins, she would become a national GOP superstar who might have potential beyond the Roundhouse.<\/p>\n

Ball wrote that Martinez, if she wins, \u201cwill be the first female Hispanic governor in U.S. history \u2013 and an instant national GOP spokeswoman.\u201d Ball wrote this about the bigger picture:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to Martinez, who currently\u00a0leads in the polls<\/a> and has been endorsed by Sarah Palin, there\u2019s Marco Rubio, the Tea Party favorite who drove Gov. Charlie Crist out of the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Florida, and Brian Sandoval, a former judge who holds a big lead in the Nevada gubernatorial race. Sure, that\u2019s only three candidates. But in the 74 elections this year for governor or U.S. Senate\u2014not all of them competitive\u2014there are no Democratic Hispanic nominees. \u2018Republicans have done a great job of recruiting Hispanic candidates,\u2019 one Democratic strategist told me. \u2018They are giving us a big wakeup call this year.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ball reminds us that more than 90 percent of Hispanics in partisan offices in America are Democrats. However, \u201cwhen your\u00a0top Hispanic contender<\/a> in the country\u2019s most populous state is a candidate for superintendent of public instruction \u2013 not exactly an office with the prominence of governor \u2013 then you may tend to focus on the number of candidates instead of the offices they\u2019re running for. As Democrats look to repeat 2008\u2019s historic turnout, they may find that Hispanics will make a big difference in November \u2013 but maybe not in quite the way they\u2019d prefer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cillizza, writing on The Fix<\/a>, ranked New Mexico\u2019s governorship as the 15th most likely to change parties this fall. Here\u2019s what he wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cDo\u00f1a Ana County District Attorney\u00a0Susana Martinez\u2019s (R)\u00a0latest TV ad<\/a> pretty much sums up the race: Lt. Gov.\u00a0Diane Denish\u00a0(D) is struggling to separate herself from the unpopular administration of Gov.\u00a0Bill Richardson\u00a0(D) while Martinez is running as an outsider who will shake up the system. Polls show the race is still neck-and-neck, but unless Denish can find a way to change the topic away from Richardson this could be perilous for Democrats in the fall.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s the first time the race has been on Cillizza\u2019s list. I won\u2019t be surprised if he ranks it higher next time around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez may be the \u201cmost frightening\u201d candidate in the nation for Democrats, writes Molly Ball on Slate.com. In addition, the Washington Post\u2019s Chris Cillizza has added the New Mexico gubernatorial race to the list of contests that are most likely to result in a party switch this fall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[108,107],"class_list":["post-19914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-2010-election","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19914\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}