{"id":32991,"date":"2011-10-20T07:55:26","date_gmt":"2011-10-20T13:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=32991"},"modified":"2011-10-21T08:14:12","modified_gmt":"2011-10-21T14:14:12","slug":"sowards-replaces-staff-plans-%e2%80%98upbeat%e2%80%99-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/10\/sowards-replaces-staff-plans-%e2%80%98upbeat%e2%80%99-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Sowards replaces staff, plans \u2018upbeat\u2019 campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Greg Sowards campaigning for Congress in 2008. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Greg Sowards<\/a> disputes reports that his campaign is \u201cover\u201d because he is replacing its staff, and says he plans a more positive and issue-based campaign.<\/p>\n

He said he is replacing The Prosper Group<\/a>, which was managing his campaign, and other consultants from D.C. with a new campaign manager who \u201creally fits the kind of candidate I am.\u201d He declined to name that person.<\/p>\n

Sowards\u2019 campaign has recently taken a harsh tone as he has sought to portray himself as the true conservative in a GOP primary that includes two others he has characterized as liberals \u2013 former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a> and Lt. Gov. John Sanchez<\/a>. The race also includes little-known William S. English<\/a>\u00a0of Alamogordo.<\/p>\n

Sowards told NMPolitics.net the negativity didn\u2019t fit him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just changing directions,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people I\u2019ve been working with have been great. I look at them as friends. It\u2019s just that they have certain ways of doing things that don\u2019t fit a non-conventional candidate. I\u2019m a different kind of candidate. I have a different message.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll see our campaign take a very positive direction, and I will be able to be more who I am,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d like to think that\u2019s the strong point of my campaign anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sowards said nothing rules out the possibility of hiring the consultants back. He said he doesn\u2019t want to fault them for the issues he had with the direction of his campaign, saying, \u201cSometimes you get caught up in the heat of the whole campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sowards\u2019 campaign could use a boost. The last public poll<\/a> of the race, released in July, had him at 8 percent to Sanchez\u2019s 24 percent and Wilson\u2019s 52 percent.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think I\u2019m on a positive track\u2019<\/h3>\n

The D.C. publication The Hill was the first to report<\/a> on Sowards\u2019 shift. Its Tuesday headline stated that Sowards \u201cdismantles campaign.\u201d The article quoted an unnamed source as saying, \u201cBasically, the campaign is over.\u201d Another \u201csource close to the campaign\u201d said the campaign \u201cstructurally ended.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was good opportunity for Sowards to be the conservative alternative to Wilson in the race, and he just didn\u2019t want it,\u201d The Hill quoted he second unnamed source as saying.<\/p>\n

The Hill said Sowards\u2019 move creates an opening for Sanchez. Wilson has been raising impressive amounts of money<\/a> and winning endorsements from a vast number of prominent Republicans around the state, but some aren\u2019t happy with that. Sanchez and Sowards have been battling to be the anti-Wilson candidate.<\/p>\n

Sowards told NMPolitics.net his campaign is by no means over. In fact, he expects it to gain steam now that he is shifting gears. He reported having $496,000 in the bank at the end of September, twice as much as Sanchez. And though Sowards\u2019 biggest weakness has been fundraising \u2013 the owner of several Las Cruces daycare centers has loaned most of his campaign\u2019s funds himself \u2013 he noted that his donations from others have increased every quarter.<\/p>\n

Sowards raised about $2,000 in the first quarter of the year from outside sources, and $7,400 in the second. In the quarter that ended Sept. 30, he raised about $47,000 from outside sources.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is difficult for me to ask for money from people who have less than I do,\u201d Sowards said, \u201cbut I think I\u2019m on a positive track.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hill reported that Sowards\u2019 new manager has no experience in such jobs. Sowards said he and the new manager like similar books, and said \u201cthere\u2019s going to be some synergy going on in my campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Sowards has gone with an unconventional campaign structure and largely funded his own campaign. And it isn\u2019t the first time people discounted him. But in 2008, those who did so underestimated Sowards.<\/p>\n

He spent $325,000 of his own money on his 2008 congressional race. In a five-way primary, he won 17 percent of the vote but finished fourth and lost to Ed Tinsley<\/a>, who went on to lose the race to Democrat Harry Teague.<\/p>\n

Though he didn\u2019t win, Sowards, who faced two candidates who had financial backing from national political action committees, played a significant role in determining the outcome of that race.<\/p>\n

\u2018Meat and substance\u2019 versus career politicians<\/h3>\n

Though Sowards plans to run a more positive Senate campaign than he has in recent months, don\u2019t expect the active tea party member to avoid talking about the problems with electing career politicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am anti-career politician. I have a hard time voting for incumbents myself,\u201d he said. \u201cIf there\u2019s a campaign where that\u2019s going to play big, I think it\u2019s going to be this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said politicians who make decisions \u201cbased on political careers\u201d have caused most of America\u2019s problems, and that won\u2019t change \u201cif we continue to send the same type of politician to Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

His campaign\u2019s last two news releases have hit Wilson and Sanchez by name and called them \u201ccareer politician\u201d and \u201cliberal,\u201d but Sowards said he\u2019s now going to focus on \u201cpolicies and programs and things that will entice people to look at my campaign as an actual solution, instead of just treading water in Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCareer politicians just tread water in Washington\u2026 and we want to be actually taking some strokes toward the goal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can expect an upbeat campaign. It\u2019s not going to be a negative campaign,\u201d Sowards said. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason to do that. There\u2019s enough meat and substance to my campaign that I believe people will want to hear what I have to say.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Greg Sowards disputes reports that his campaign is \u201cover\u201d because he is replacing its staff, and says he plans a more positive and issue-based campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[156,227,116],"class_list":["post-32991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2012-election","tag-u-s-senate-race","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32991","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=32991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32991\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}