{"id":2454,"date":"2007-10-31T16:17:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-31T22:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/chavez-reaches-out-to-progressives-through-bloggers\/"},"modified":"2007-10-31T16:17:00","modified_gmt":"2007-10-31T22:17:00","slug":"chavez-reaches-out-to-progressives-through-bloggers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/chavez-reaches-out-to-progressives-through-bloggers\/","title":{"rendered":"Ch\u00e1vez reaches out to progressives through bloggers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Albuquerque Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez<\/a>, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a>, R-N.M., is attempting to reach out to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party through its bloggers. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There are quite a few progressive bloggers in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, and Ch\u00e1vez had a dialogue with several of them on a conference call on Tuesday evening that he said he hoped was \u201cpart of an ongoing conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez isn\u2019t well liked, to put it mildly, by many progressives, who recently worked with Republicans to defeat candidates and referenda backed by Ch\u00e1vez, or at least some of his top staffers, in the Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> municipal election. In a recent interview with me, Ch\u00e1vez said he gets \u201ca bad rap\u201d from progressives that isn\u2019t deserved, and cited his work on combating climate change and other issues he says should earn him the support of progressives.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In the same conversation, however, Ch\u00e1vez said he wasn\u2019t afraid of the possibility that U.S. Rep. Tom Udall<\/a>, a favorite among progressive Democrats, might enter the race, saying Udall is \u201cso far to the left.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That comment was one of the points Ch\u00e1vez was asked about during Tuesday\u2019s call. It upset many progressives as it circulated on state and national blogs last week.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI was asked it in a specific context and I gave it in a specific context,\u201d Ch\u00e1vez said. \u201c\u2026 I run a city and he\u2019s a congressman so I think (the difference) is more in the nature of the jobs we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez also called Udall a friend and a \u201cgreat congressman.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look issue by issue I doubt you\u2019ll find much difference,\u201d he said. \u201cYou will find that we will vote together almost all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There was clearly some awkwardness about the conversation, but the bloggers also sounded genuinely happy to have such access to Ch\u00e1vez. Since he\u2019s currently the only big-name Democrat in the Senate race, progressives have no choice but to give Ch\u00e1vez a serious look. And he needs them to vote for him, if not in the primary, at least if he\u2019s going to have any chance at winning a general election against U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a> or Heather Wilson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez was asked a number of other questions, many of them related to growth in the Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> area. He defended his moderate, pro-growth views but turned the conversation back, at the end, to progressives\u2019 most talked-about issues \u2013 ending the war, reforming the health-care system and working to combat climate change and increase use of alternative energy sources.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI think most people will agree that I tend to get done what I say I will get done,\u201d Ch\u00e1vez said. \u201c\u2026 When I tell you I\u2019m going to go up there and work to end this war, you can take that to the bank.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., is attempting to reach out to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party through its bloggers. There are quite a few progressive bloggers in New Mexico, and Ch\u00e1vez had a dialogue with several of them on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454","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=2454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}