{"id":2603,"date":"2007-12-05T16:33:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-05T22:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/12\/ali-macgraw-to-attend-fundraiser-for-sen-garcia\/"},"modified":"2007-12-05T16:33:00","modified_gmt":"2007-12-05T22:33:00","slug":"ali-macgraw-to-attend-fundraiser-for-sen-garcia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/12\/ali-macgraw-to-attend-fundraiser-for-sen-garcia\/","title":{"rendered":"Ali MacGraw to attend fundraiser for Sen. Garcia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>State Sen. Mary Jane Garcia<\/a>, facing a credible challenge in the June primary, is getting a little help from a well-known actress \u2013 Ali MacGraw<\/a>, star of the 1970-film Love Story<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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

MacGraw, who lives in Santa Fe<\/st1:city>, will be in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> on Sunday for a fundraiser for the re-election campaign of the Democratic senator from Do\u00f1a Ana. The two worked together for years to try to secure passage of legislation making cockfighting illegal in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, and successfully accomplished that goal earlier this year.<\/p>\n

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

Both were present in March when Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> signed the Garcia-sponsored bill<\/a> outlawing cockfighting.<\/p>\n

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

The fundraiser, according to the invitation<\/a>, will be held at the home of Democratic National Committee member Mary Gail Gwaltney. A contribution of $50 is required to attend.<\/p>\n

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

MacGraw\u2019s appearance is an indication of how loyal the animal-rights community is to Garcia, and is a sign that cockfighting may become a central issue in the campaign. An e-mail promoting the fundraiser is circulating among animal-rights activists and others in the county.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Garcia\u2019s challenger, Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Oscar V\u00e1squez Butler<\/a>, opposes a statewide cockfighting ban, saying the decision should be left to local governments. And though both candidates say they plan to keep the race civil, cockfighting supporters could come to Butler<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s aid in the same way animal-rights activists are rallying behind Garcia. If that happens, the groups backing both candidates aren\u2019t likely to keep the race clean.<\/p>\n

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

This should be one of the most interesting legislative races in the state next year. Sue Patterson, a member of the local Animal Advocacy Coalition, wrote in an e-mail urging others to attend Garcia\u2019s fundraiser that the senator is facing \u201ca very popular opponent,\u201d and she\u2019s right: Butler<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s support is widespread in the county\u2019s rural areas.<\/p>\n

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

Senate District 36<\/a> includes some neighborhoods on Las Cruces<\/st1:city>\u2019 north end, but also includes all rural communities from Las Cruces<\/st1:city> to the Sierra<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> border along Interstate 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, facing a credible challenge in the June primary, is getting a little help from a well-known actress \u2013 Ali MacGraw, star of the 1970-film Love Story. MacGraw, who lives in Santa Fe, will be in Las Cruces on Sunday for a fundraiser for the re-election campaign of the Democratic senator […]<\/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-2603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603","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=2603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}