{"id":31587,"date":"2011-09-07T08:25:39","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T14:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=31587"},"modified":"2011-09-07T19:39:44","modified_gmt":"2011-09-08T01:39:44","slug":"martinez-isn%e2%80%99t-ready-to-be-vice-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/09\/martinez-isn%e2%80%99t-ready-to-be-vice-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Martinez isn\u2019t ready to be vice president"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

Unlike Sarah Palin, Martinez is smart enough to realize she\u2019s not ready, so she\u2019s focused on governing New Mexico \u2013 and she\u2019s still growing into that job<\/h4>\n

The media, pundits, and some GOP strategists like to label N.M. Gov. Susana Martinez<\/a> as a potential 2012 vice presidential candidate. But I\u2019m confident that Martinez isn\u2019t angling for the job and won\u2019t be on the Republican ticket next year.<\/p>\n

Put simply, Martinez isn\u2019t ready to be vice president (or, by extension, president). And, unlike Sarah Palin, Martinez is smart enough to realize she\u2019s not ready. So she\u2019s focused on governing New Mexico \u2013 and she\u2019s still growing into that job.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t expect politicos to stop talking about what Martinez could bring to the GOP ticket next year. A Hispanic woman to compliment a white man on the ticket? For the party that often gets accused of not looking out for women and minorities, she\u2019s a dream come true.<\/p>\n

Martinez is strong on crime and one of the tea party\u2019s favorite issues, border security, which makes her even more appealing. She\u2019s a popular GOP governor in an important swing state, which is rare these days.<\/p>\n

Martinez isn\u2019t wealthy and has spent most of her life in a corner of America that is often ignored by the political class. That adds to the ways in which she could compliment a wealthy, privileged candidate like Mitt Romney or Rick Perry.<\/p>\n

All that has led Business Insider to say Martinez is \u201con the Republican veep shortlist.\u201d<\/a> Politico says she\u2019s \u201camong many notable VP possibilities.\u201d<\/a> A blogger for The Hill calls her \u201ca strong, potential candidate<\/a> for vice president in 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Martinez has given no indications that she wants to be on the 2012 ticket. She hasn\u2019t been actively pursuing the job. If she was, she\u2019d be participating in events in swing states, giving major policy speeches, penning op-eds on federal issues, and working to insert herself into the media\u2019s coverage of national issues all the time.<\/p>\n

In New Mexico, we know what that looks like, because it\u2019s what Bill Richardson<\/a> did while he was governor. And it\u2019s something Martinez isn\u2019t doing.<\/p>\n

Martinez still has a lot to learn<\/h3>\n

As a journalist in Las Cruces, I\u2019ve watched Martinez\u2019s career for more than a dozen years, since early in her tenure as Do\u00f1a Ana County\u2019s district attorney. She was passionate about that job and poured herself into it. She also had her eyes on the Roundhouse, but she was patient.<\/p>\n

I watched others recruit her to run for attorney general and Congress, and saw her reject pressure to seek those jobs. She told me in 2006<\/a> that she might run for governor in 2010. I believe she was planning her gubernatorial run even then.<\/p>\n

When the time was right, Martinez stormed the Roundhouse, winning the primary and general elections as an underdog.<\/p>\n

Martinez did that despite weakness in two critical policy areas \u2013 the economy and education. She had a lot to learn about those issues while campaigning, and she has spent the last eight months as governor improving her understanding of those issues.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s more prepared for the special session that started yesterday than she was for the regular session in January. She\u2019s growing into the job.<\/p>\n

But Martinez still has a lot to learn before she could be considered ready for the White House. I expect her to finish her current term as governor, which runs through 2014.<\/p>\n

Maybe in 2016 or 2020<\/h3>\n

In high school in El Paso, Martinez reportedly aspired to become the president<\/a> of the United States. I don\u2019t know if she still wants the job, but it wouldn\u2019t surprise me if she does. As Martinez becomes more comfortable being New Mexico\u2019s chief executive, gets recruited to think bigger, and has her ego stroked by the Washington political and media machines, perhaps she\u2019ll start planning, just like she did years before she ran for governor.<\/p>\n

Maybe Martinez will run for president in 2016. Maybe in 2020. If she does, expect her to have a better chance at her party\u2019s nomination than did New Mexico\u2019s two previous governors \u2013 Richardson in 2008 and Gary Johnson<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n

Martinez has keen political instincts. She knows what she wants and how to prepare for it. She\u2019s smart enough to know when the time is right \u2013 and when it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

Keep an eye on Martinez\u2019s national potential. But don\u2019t expect her to make a move until she\u2019s ready, no matter what pressure she gets from Washington.<\/p>\n

Haussamen bio<\/a>\u00a0\u2502\u00a0Commentary page<\/a>\u00a0\u2502\u00a0Feed<\/a><\/p>\n

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

The media, pundits, and some GOP strategists like to label N.M. Gov. Susana Martinez as a potential 2012 vice presidential candidate. But I\u2019m confident that Martinez isn\u2019t angling for the job and won\u2019t be on the Republican ticket next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[156,107,208,116],"class_list":["post-31587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-2012-election","tag-roundhouse","tag-susana-martinez","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31587","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=31587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}