{"id":2782,"date":"2008-01-25T09:44:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-25T15:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/wilson-tries-to-set-herself-apart-from-pearce-udall\/"},"modified":"2008-01-25T09:44:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-25T15:44:00","slug":"wilson-tries-to-set-herself-apart-from-pearce-udall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/wilson-tries-to-set-herself-apart-from-pearce-udall\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilson tries to set herself apart from Pearce, Udall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson<\/a> urged young people to get involved in the political process and took a few shots at her opponents during a visit with college Republicans at New Mexico<\/st1:placename> State<\/st1:placetype> University<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> on Thursday. <\/p>\n

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

Seeking to set herself apart, the Republican representative of the Albuquerque-area First Congressional District characterized U.S. Rep. Tom Udall<\/a> as \u201ctoo liberal\u201d and a poor leader. She said U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a>, under the guise of fiscal conservatism, won\u2019t boost funding for any program, even when additional money is necessary for measures like increasing the number of Border Patrol agents.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI think we need a commonsense conservative,\u201d Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said.<\/p>\n

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

She called Pearce, who she\u2019s facing in the GOP primary, a friend with whom she agrees on many issues. But she said he voted against funding for more Border Patrol agents and for an amendment that would have cut funding for Los Alamos National Laboratory beyond the cuts Democrats sought last year, all \u201cunder the guise of fiscal conservatism.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe differ not on rhetoric but on my willingness to act on what I believe,\u201d Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said.<\/p>\n

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

The congresswoman said she favors small government but seeks to attain it through cutting programs that aren\u2019t working, not implementing across-the-board cuts that could harm programs that are effective.<\/p>\n

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

She pointed out that Udall, the likely Democratic nominee for the Senate seat, voted for the Democratic-sponsored cuts in lab funding, and said the nation can\u2019t afford \u201cthat lack of leadership in the U.S. Senate.\u201d She also cited two bills she sponsored for Udall\u2019s district, saying that was necessary because he \u201cis just not very effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, focusing on the issue of electability, said she is the best Republican candidate to take on Udall. She pointed out that she has survived several tough challenges in a Democratic-leaning district. She said the average Republican candidate gets 47 percent of the vote in her district.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019ve demonstrated the ability to outperform the average Republican,\u201d Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201c\u2026 So I know how to fight and win.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Urging young people to get involved<\/span><\/p>\n

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

About 10 people showed up to hear Wilson speak \u2013 a turnout that may have been low because the event took place at the same time as an Aggie home basketball game \u2013 but Wilson thanked them and pleaded with them to get involved in the political process. She asked them to volunteer with her campaign and urged them to attend their county party convention and seek to become delegates to the state convention in March.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI think you should have delegates at this convention,\u201d Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be all of us who should be getting our hair colored.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> pointed out that she is the youngest of the three members of Congress running for the Senate seat, and said Pete Domenici<\/a>, in retiring, is passing the torch to the next generation. Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said she got involved in government and rose to become a congresswoman by taking advantage of opportunities to serve, and urged the young people to do the same. She said that would lead to bigger and better opportunities throughout life.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cSomeday, I\u2019m going to be announcing that I\u2019m going to retire, and I\u2019d like to see one of you step into this breach,\u201d Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson urged young people to get involved in the political process and took a few shots at her opponents during a visit with college Republicans at New Mexico State University on Thursday. Seeking to set herself apart, the Republican representative of the Albuquerque-area First Congressional District characterized U.S. Rep. Tom Udall […]<\/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-2782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2782","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=2782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}