{"id":3542,"date":"2008-08-07T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-07T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/08\/gop-house-candidates-to-skip-nominating-convention\/"},"modified":"2008-08-07T07:30:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-07T13:30:00","slug":"gop-house-candidates-to-skip-nominating-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/08\/gop-house-candidates-to-skip-nominating-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP House candidates to skip nominating convention"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>What about the Democratic hopefuls?<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

The chairman of the fund-raising committee for House Republicans recently told congressional hopefuls they should not shy away from criticizing fellow Republicans and would be wise to skip next month\u2019s GOP presidential nominating convention<\/a> in Minnesota<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.<\/p>\n

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

New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>\u2019s Republican House candidates are skipping the GOP convention at the beginning of September, their campaigns said. And all three — 1st District candidate Darren White<\/a>, 2nd District candidate Ed Tinsley<\/a> and 3rd District candidate Dan East<\/a> — released statements touting their independence.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWe\u2019re going to run our race the way we\u2019ve been running it. I am a Republican, but more importantly, a conservative who listens to people to understand the issues facing this district and find solutions,\u201d Tinsley said in a statement released by his campaign. \u201cMy real-life experiences fit the diversity of our district and are more important than party labels.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

White campaign manager Sara Lister said the campaign wasn\u2019t on the conference call during which Rep. Tom Cole<\/a>, R-Okla., gave the advice to congressional hopefuls, so she couldn\u2019t speak specifically about it, but she did call White \u201ca straight shooter who has never been afraid to criticize leaders of his own party when he disagrees with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWhite gave up his job when he disagreed with Gary Johnson on drug legalization and has been very blunt about his disagreements with President George Bush on Katrina and the handling of the War in Ir<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>aq<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>,\u201d she said. \u201cWhite speaks his mind without regard to the political benefits or consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

East released this statement:<\/p>\n

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

\u201cAs Lew Wallis<\/a> said, \u2018Every calculation based on experience elsewhere fails in New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>.\u2019 We are a state of pioneers and we will run our campaign based on the people of New Mexico<\/st1:state>, not the people in Washington<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

\u2018Don\u2019t hesitate to be anti-Washington, D.C.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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

It was during a conference call last week that Cole, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee<\/a>, told GOP candidates they should not hesitate to criticize Republicans and Democrats alike, according to the Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> publication The Hill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThese (congressional approval) ratings are worse than we had on the eve of losing the majority,\u201d Cole said, according to The Hill. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to say you are disappointed in fellow Republicans\u2026 don\u2019t hesitate to be anti-Washington, D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

According to the article, Cole also \u201cdiscouraged candidates from attending the national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, saying that spending days there would be a \u2018waste of time,\u2019 and they would be better off campaigning.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Tinsley said he isn\u2019t attending the convention because he\u2019s too busy.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThere are too many personal and campaign-related events going on at that time, including the All American Futurity horse race, meeting with constituents and spending time with my family,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

East and White gave no explanation for skipping the convention.<\/p>\n

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

But at least the Republican candidates have decided and were willing to say whether they\u2019re attending their convention. Getting answers out of the three Democratic House candidates from New Mexico<\/st1:state> on whether they will attend their party\u2019s presidential nominating convention<\/a> in Denver<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> later this month was more difficult.<\/p>\n

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

A campaign spokeswoman for 1st District Democratic candidate Martin Heinrich<\/a> said Heinrich hasn\u2019t decided whether he\u2019ll attend the convention. Spokesmen for the campaigns of 2nd District Democratic candidate Harry Teague<\/a> and 3rd District Democratic candidate Ben R. Luj\u00e1n<\/a> wouldn\u2019t comment for the record when asked if the candidates will attend the convention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What about the Democratic hopefuls? The chairman of the fund-raising committee for House Republicans recently told congressional hopefuls they should not shy away from criticizing fellow Republicans and would be wise to skip next month\u2019s GOP presidential nominating convention in Minnesota. New Mexico\u2019s Republican House candidates are skipping the GOP convention at the beginning of […]<\/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-3542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3542","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=3542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}