{"id":2631,"date":"2007-12-12T09:01:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-12T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/12\/herding-dems\/"},"modified":"2009-08-22T14:10:32","modified_gmt":"2009-08-22T20:10:32","slug":"herding-dems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/12\/herding-dems\/","title":{"rendered":"Herding Dems?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Carter Bundy<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\u201cI belong to no organized political party. I\u2019m a Democrat.\u201d So goes the well-worn clich\u00e9 attributed to Will Rogers<\/a>, and for many of us, to borrow from Homer Simpson, it\u2019s funny because it\u2019s true. <\/p>\n

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

The other clich\u00e9 is that getting Dems together is like herding cats. That\u2019s almost true, but most years, herding cats is easier.<\/p>\n

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

This year, though, something\u2019s going on, nationally and in New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>. Dems seem to be going out of their way to keep their differences professional and are avoiding the nastiness that has been a hallmark of Dem primaries for decades.<\/p>\n

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

Senatorial courtesy<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Exhibit A: Mayor Ch\u00e1<\/span>vez<\/a> graciously dropping out of the Senate race and immediately offering a generous statement of support to Congressman Udall<\/a>. Talk about a race that had potential to divide Dems in the state. <\/p>\n

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

Dems would have heard nothing but rural vs. Albuquerque<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>, military vs. renewable energy, progressive vs. centrist and native New Mexican vs. New Mexican by choice for the next seven months.<\/p>\n

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

Obviously the early polling wasn\u2019t great for the mayor and played some role in his decision. Put it this way: Had he been up 20 or 25 instead of the other way around, does anyone think he\u2019d have stepped down? <\/p>\n

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

Whether he could or would have closed the gap all the way isn\u2019t the point. The point is, Ch\u00e1vez could easily have made it a nasty, vicious primary, and maybe a very competitive one, too, that would have left the victor bloodied beyond recognition. And ripe for Wilson<\/a> or Pearce<\/a> to pick off.<\/p>\n

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

Instead, barring unforeseen circumstances (and who in their right mind would argue that unforeseen means unlikely this year?), Udall is going to be the Dem nominee come June. He\u2019ll have a solidly unified Democratic Party behind him, plenty of independent support and a big ol\u2019 bankroll to help him weather GOP attacks.<\/p>\n

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

Herding cats this ain\u2019t.<\/p>\n

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

Meanwhile, in the same race there are no signs that the GOP fault lines won\u2019t be badly exposed: religious vs. more secular, urban vs. rural, 100-percent Bush lover vs. 90-percent Bush lover, enthusiastic warrior vs. indecisive warrior, etc. Both Wilson and Pearce have loyal constituencies, and each will have beaucoup bucks to make the battle an ugly one.<\/p>\n

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

Tom\u2019s waiting. The mayor just moved the Dems\u2019 chances of picking up the seat from toss-up or leaning Dem to quite strong.<\/p>\n

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

Presidential politeness<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Exhibit B: At the national level, Dems are playing relatively friendly. Yes, there\u2019s the despicable e-mail going around basically saying Obama\u2019s<\/a> a Manchurian candidate. Even though some Hillary<\/a> volunteers were caught forwarding it, there\u2019s no doubt it has nothing to do with the campaign. I received some of the same garbage from some otherwise upstanding Dem friends almost a year ago (sorry, friends, you know who you are, and it was wrong) and have trashed each one of those e-mails.<\/p>\n

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

Obama and Edwards<\/a> have gotten a bit snippy with Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, making the absurd allegation that she\u2019s a corporate Dem (does anyone remember who viciously destroyed her universal health program? Most politicians don\u2019t forget their friends \u2013 or enemies \u2013 and she won\u2019t if\/when she\u2019s president). <\/p>\n

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

By and large, though, the Dem presidential field has followed Governor Richardson\u2019s<\/a> lead in keeping the discussion to the issues and credentials.<\/p>\n

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

On the ground here in Iowa<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, it seems most Iowa Dems are taking the governor\u2019s advice to heart. More common than support for any one candidate is the line, \u201cWow, we sure are lucky\/blessed to have so many good candidates to choose from.\u201d Yeah, there\u2019s ticky-tack stuff going on in the political rags and even a bit on the stump, but Dems have decided this is a year we\u2019re going to win.<\/p>\n

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

Contrast that with the absolute savagery Mike Huckabee<\/a> is taking from GOP pros and voters alike. As he\u2019s surged to success in Iowa<\/st1:state> and nationally, the gloves have come off and he\u2019s being assaulted with a bunch of half-truths on everything from parole to promising programs in Arkansas<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>. <\/p>\n

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

Mitt\u2019s<\/a> taking a beating over, of all things, being religious. Did you ever think you\u2019d see the day when large numbers of Republicans would trash a Christian for practicing his faith? <\/p>\n

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

McCain<\/a> is loathed by GOP pundits and some voters alike for taking a serious, balanced approach to immigration and campaign finance. Rudy<\/a>\u2026 well, no need to pile on \u2013 that\u2019s being done by his fellow partisans.<\/p>\n

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

It seems New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> is leading the way for Dems all around the country when it comes to recognizing that debate is important, but that debates and circular firing squads are two different things.<\/p>\n

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

Ronald Reagan<\/a> is brought up at virtually every GOP debate and town hall. Ironically, his famous 11th Commandment to not speak ill of other Republicans has been adopted with a Democratic twist by Dems, while the GOP candidates seem to be quite unfamiliar with it.<\/p>\n

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

With New Mexico Democrats leading the way, 2008 could be the year that proves Will Rogers wrong. <\/p>\n

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

Bundy is the political and legislative director for AFSCME<\/a> in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. The opinions in his column are personal and do not necessarily reflect any official AFSCME position. You can learn more about him by clicking here<\/a>. Contact him at carterbundy@yahoo.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Carter Bundy \u201cI belong to no organized political party. I\u2019m a Democrat.\u201d So goes the well-worn clich\u00e9 attributed to Will Rogers, and for many of us, to borrow from Homer Simpson, it\u2019s funny because it\u2019s true. The other clich\u00e9 is that getting Dems together is like herding cats. That\u2019s almost true, but most years, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bundy-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}