{"id":2930,"date":"2008-02-29T13:28:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-29T19:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/02\/cd2-dem-race-is-a-lively-spirited-contest\/"},"modified":"2008-02-29T13:28:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-29T19:28:00","slug":"cd2-dem-race-is-a-lively-spirited-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/02\/cd2-dem-race-is-a-lively-spirited-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"CD2 Dem race is ‘a lively, spirited contest’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> on Thursday correctly described the Second Congressional District Democratic primary as \u201ca lively, spirited contest.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Her speech at the Democratic Party\u2019s county convention in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> was followed by speeches from the four congressional candidates and selection of delegates to the state party\u2019s convention. An enthusiastic crowd heard all four speak.<\/p>\n

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

Bill McCamley<\/a> twice took shots during his speech at \u201cwealthy oilmen from Hobbs<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.\u201d Though he was speaking specifically about U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a> the first time and never mentioned opponent Harry Teague<\/a>, Teague is also a wealthy oilman from Hobbs<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, and the implication was clear.<\/p>\n

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

And Frank McKinnon<\/a>, who is running in part because of his opposition to the spread of the nuclear industry in Southern New Mexico, accused McCamley and Teague, without naming them, of being in the pocket of the nuclear industry, and also pointed out that the fourth candidate in the race, Al Kissling<\/a>, agrees with the others that the United States must increase its use of nuclear power.<\/p>\n

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

McKinnon said he wanted one of the other candidates to take on his issue, saying he would have exited the race if one had.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThey have refused, so I have to win,\u201d he told the crowd of about 200 Democrats.<\/p>\n

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

Kissling took a shot too, saying Congress doesn\u2019t need another millionaire \u2013 a reference to Teague \u2013 or even \u201canother politician\u201d \u2013 an apparent reference to McCamley. Kissling has frequently made such statements about his opponents on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n

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

Candidates\u2019 thoughts on preprimary<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The meeting was somewhat disorganized, and it took several hours for the party to sort out its balloting and select its delegates to the March 15 preprimary nominating convention. The Second Congressional District candidate who wins that vote gets top ballot position and, if he wins by a significant margin, likely gains momentum.<\/p>\n

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

A candidate must secure 20 percent of the vote at the state convention to get a spot on the ballot, or he must gather a large number of signatures to take the alternate route to the ballot \u2013 assuming the governor signs a bill that would allow that alternate path. The governor has said he will sign the bill but has not done it. He has until Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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

Winning the preprimary is an organizational test. Candidates must organize at the ward level to get their supporters elected as delegates to the county convention and then at the county level to get their supporters elected as delegates to the state convention.<\/p>\n

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

Teague said after his speech that he thinks he did \u201cpretty well\u201d in every county that has selected delegates thus far. Eddy, Luna, Otero and Valencia county Democrats have yet to select delegates.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI think we\u2019re easily going to be on the ballot,\u201d Teague said about how well he\u2019ll do at the state convention. \u201cBeyond that, I\u2019m scared to guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

McCamley said his campaign will assess its support after the remaining county parties select delegates this weekend.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe\u2019re aiming to win. It\u2019s going to take a lot more work,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 We think this is a good cross section of the district, and if we win the preprimary, it will be a good precursor of the primary.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Kissling, who has often made bold predictions about his support, sounded less certain on Thursday.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe\u2019ll see where the dice roll. We got screwed in a couple of counties. \u2026 It may be a tough floor fight at the convention,\u201d Kissling said. \u201cI still think I can win, but if I don\u2019t go to Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, I\u2019m going to stay in the Second Congressional District and reform the Democratic Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

McKinnon made the boldest prediction of the night.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI think I\u2019m in. \u2026 I\u2019m shooting for 40-50 percent, but I may be a little lower than that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

\u2018One more vote in the U.S. Senate\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Tom Udall<\/a>, the only Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Pete Domenici<\/a>, also spoke at the convention. He said he had a good thing going in the House, being in a safe district and having a spot on the appropriations committee, but he\u2019s giving that up to run for Senate because he\u2019s been frustrated that so many bills the House passes go to the Senate to die.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cOne more vote in the U.S. Senate, I believe, will make a difference to move us forward,\u201d Udall said to loud applause.<\/p>\n

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

Comments by Teague and McCamley drew the most laughter of the evening. Teague, who grew up in Hobbs<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> with Denish, opened his speech by revealing a little-known detail about his life.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWhen I was in the seventh grade, I had a big crush on the lieutenant governor, Diane Denish, and I was one of about 400 boys who had a crush on Diane Denish,\u201d Teague said with a big grin on his face.<\/p>\n

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

McCamley, in talking about his focus on change, said he\u2019s been in the race since long before Pearce announced he would vacate it to run for the open Senate seat.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019ve been talking about change since I got into the race in April, since before I chased Steve Pearce out of it,\u201d McCamley said.<\/p>\n

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

Here are some photos from the convention:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish on Thursday correctly described the Second Congressional District Democratic primary as \u201ca lively, spirited contest.\u201d Her speech at the Democratic Party\u2019s county convention in Las Cruces was followed by speeches from the four congressional candidates and selection of delegates to the state party\u2019s convention. An enthusiastic crowd heard all four speak. […]<\/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-2930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930","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=2930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}