{"id":37037,"date":"2012-02-22T08:59:53","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T15:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=37037"},"modified":"2012-02-23T06:42:52","modified_gmt":"2012-02-23T13:42:52","slug":"denish-sticks-neck-out-with-endorsements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/02\/denish-sticks-neck-out-with-endorsements\/","title":{"rendered":"Denish sticks neck out with endorsements"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

By backing candidates who are or may be underdogs, former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish is taking a chance, but she doesn\u2019t seem concerned about that.<\/h4>\n

Former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a>, who was the Democratic Party\u2019s gubernatorial nominee in 2010, is sticking her neck out by endorsing candidates in two high-profile primaries some consider underdogs.<\/p>\n

In July<\/a>, Denish endorsed Hector Balderas<\/a>, who polls have shown has an uphill battle against Martin Heinrich<\/a> in the U.S. Senate primary. And earlier this month<\/a>, Denish gave her support to Michelle Lujan Grisham<\/a> in a three-way 1st Congressional District primary. She said she doesn\u2019t consider Lujan Grisham an underdog.<\/p>\n

Whether such endorsements matter is a long-standing debate in politics, but Denish built a statewide network, and the candidates hope her endorsements will at least energize their supporters. Balderas and Lujan Grisham are touting Denish\u2019s backing, which shows she still has influence in a party that is in some ways soul-searching after a 2010 shellacking that included her loss to Republican Susana Martinez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Denish said she thought carefully before making the endorsements. By backing candidates who are or may be underdogs, she\u2019s taking a chance, but she doesn\u2019t seem concerned about that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI endorse the candidates who I think have the opportunity to be the best public servants in the jobs they\u2019re running for,\u201d Denish told NMPolitics.net.<\/p>\n

\u2018Delighted\u2019 Balderas is running<\/h3>\n

Balderas is New Mexico\u2019s state auditor<\/a>, so he and Denish worked together in Santa Fe. Denish said she was \u201cdelighted\u201d when he entered the Senate race in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve admired him \u2013 his very quiet, stick-your-neck-out attitude of plodding along,\u201d Denish said.<\/p>\n

She was referring in part to Balderas\u2019 role in exposing and addressing the scandal in New Mexico\u2019s housing authority system<\/a>. As some establishment Democrats sought to downplay the misuse of millions of dollars in public money that led to indictments in an ongoing criminal case, Balderas and Denish spoke out.<\/p>\n

Denish publicly challenged House Speaker Ben Luj\u00e1n<\/a>, accusing him of trying to kill legislation that would reform the affordable housing system. And at a time when others were seeking to downplay the problems, Balderas\u2019 office released damning audits (here<\/a> and here<\/a>) and he labeled the housing authorities a \u201ccolossal failure.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were walking in the wind, so to speak, against the powerful interests, especially in the House, who didn\u2019t want to do anything about that,\u201d Denish said, noting that Balderas\u2019 work on that issue was especially impressive because he served in the state House before he became auditor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a lot of really strong relationships in the House, but he knew he had to do what was right,\u201d Denish said.<\/p>\n

She said Balderas, who is from Wagon Mound and characterizes himself as in touch with rural New Mexico, is a better fit for statewide office than Heinrich, who currently represents the Albuquerque-area seat in Congress<\/a> that Lujan Grisham and others are now seeking.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows New Mexico, and I believe not only can he be a great U.S. senator over the long haul, and represent all of New Mexico, but I think he\u2019s the candidate who can win the race for the Democrats in November,\u201d Denish said about Balderas.<\/p>\n

She added that Heinrich is a good fit for the 1st District seat he currently holds \u2013 Heinrich represents her in Congress \u2013 and she wishes he had chosen to remain in that office.<\/p>\n

The most recent poll<\/a> of the Democratic Senate primary, an internal survey released by Heinrich\u2019s campaign, had him leading Balderas by 30 points overall and 23 points among people who can identify both candidates. Other polls have also shown Heinrich with a big lead. He was up by 17 points in the most recent independent poll<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lujan Grisham is \u2018absolutely fearless\u2019<\/h3>\n

Denish, the first woman to be elected New Mexico\u2019s lieutenant governor, has long focused on electing women to office. Though 50.8 percent of Americans are women, they make up only 18 percent<\/a> of members of the U.S. House and Senate. Denish said she\u2019s \u201cgoing to do everything I can to help good women, smart women, elected to the House.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Mexico has only elected two women to the U.S. House since becoming a state. One was Republican Heather Wilson<\/a>, who represented the 1st District before Heinrich and is trying this year to become New Mexico\u2019s first female U.S. senator<\/a>, seeking the same seat as Balderas and Heinrich.<\/p>\n

But Denish isn\u2019t just backing Lujan Grisham, a Bernalillo County commissioner<\/a>, in the 1st District race because she\u2019s a woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichelle Lujan Grisham is courageous; she\u2019s fearless,\u201d Denish said. \u201cThat\u2019s one word I would absolutely use about her. She\u2019s absolutely fearless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lujan Grisham faces former Albuquerque Mayor Marty Ch\u00e1vez<\/a> and State Sen. Eric Griego<\/a> in the primary. There have been no publicly-released polls of the race, so it\u2019s not as easy to label Lujan Grisham an underdog as it is Balderas, but many in the Democratic Party view the race as being primarily between Ch\u00e1vez and Griego. Lujan Grisham was one of three other Democrats Heinrich defeated to become the party\u2019s 1st District nominee in 2008.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez has a long history in Albuquerque and lots of name recognition. Griego, a former Albuquerque city councilor, has been in the race longer than the other candidates and has built an impressive level of support from the party\u2019s progressive wing.<\/p>\n

But during the last fundraising quarter, the three were essentially tied in the cash race. While Ch\u00e1vez has lots of high-profile endorsements \u2013 including that of former President Bill Clinton<\/a> \u2013 many national political action committees have put their support and money behind Griego<\/a> and Lujan Grisham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Denish, who was Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s running mate when he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1998, doesn\u2019t view Lujan Grisham as an underdog.<\/p>\n

\u201cI view her as one in a race with three people \u2013 and a strong competitor,\u201d Denish said.<\/p>\n

This article has been updated to mention that Denish ran with\u00a0Ch\u00e1vez in 1998.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who was the Democratic Party\u2019s gubernatorial nominee in 2010, is sticking her neck out by endorsing candidates in two high-profile primaries some consider underdogs.<\/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":[228,156,106,107,227,116],"class_list":["post-37037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-1st-congressional-district-race","tag-2012-election","tag-diane-denish","tag-roundhouse","tag-u-s-senate-race","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37037","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=37037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37037\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}