{"id":4720,"date":"2009-07-09T11:55:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-09T17:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/07\/for-n-m-gop-all-eyes-are-on-heather-wilson\/"},"modified":"2009-07-09T11:55:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-09T17:55:00","slug":"for-n-m-gop-all-eyes-are-on-heather-wilson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/07\/for-n-m-gop-all-eyes-are-on-heather-wilson\/","title":{"rendered":"For N.M. GOP, all eyes are on Heather Wilson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With Steve Pearce running for Congress, the biggest question for Republicans right now is whether Heather Wilson is going to run for governor<\/span><\/p>\n

Is Heather Wilson<\/a> going to run for governor or not?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the biggest question for New Mexico Republicans, now that former U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a>, R-N.M., has decided to try to regain his old seat<\/a> in Congress instead of running for governor.<\/p>\n

Wilson has been saying she\u2019s seriously considering running for governor, but whether she is going to enter the race is a question she isn\u2019t answering right now. She\u2019s currently doing political and elections training<\/a> for government officials in Sudan and Kenya and writing about her experiences on her Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reached via Facebook on Wednesday, Wilson had this to say when asked about the gubernatorial race:<\/p>\n

\u201cVery far from home right now. … In fact, am sitting in my \u2018container\u2019 in a camp for aid workers on the bank of the Nile River in Juba, Sudan<\/a>. I leave in about 20 minutes to do another teaching session with the staff of the Deputy Secretary General of one of the leading parties here on how to run an office. \u2026 I go to Kenya tomorrow. May not have e-mail service there and no reliable phone. Will have to answer your questions when I am \u2018Out of Africa.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While Wilson is staying mum for the time being, others in New Mexico are talking a lot about her potential candidacy. Pollster and political analyst Brian Sanderoff said many Republicans, including potential gubernatorial candidates and business owners who might help fund their campaigns, are waiting to see what Wilson plans to do before they make commitments.<\/p>\n

Sanderoff said it made sense for the more moderate Wilson, who lost to the right-wing Pearce in last year\u2019s U.S. Senate primary, to wait for Pearce\u2019s decision before she made her own. Now that Pearce has made his decision, Sanderoff said he suspects that Wilson will \u201cbe letting the public know soon what her intentions are, because if she\u2019s not in the race, then the Republican Party needs to start getting behind these (other) candidates and fight it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018If she jumps in, then I have to make a choice\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

The GOP\u2019s Wilson has won several hotly contested battles for the Albuquerque-area 1st Congressional District seat and built a statewide network when she ran for U.S. Senate last year, so conventional wisdom suggests she would be the frontrunner, or at least a formidable opponent, if she decides to enter the race.<\/p>\n

The Republican field is already crowded. Albuquerque financial adviser and Army National Guard brigadier general Greg Zanetti<\/a> has formally announced his candidacy. Former state GOP Chairman Allen Weh<\/a> and state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a>, R-Albuquerque, have formed exploratory committees. Doug Turner<\/a>, CEO of the Albuquerque-based public relations firm DW Turner<\/a>, says he\u2019s seriously considering the race.<\/p>\n

Arnold-Jones acknowledged that not knowing the plans of Wilson and Pearce was a big factor as she considered forming an exploratory committee. But the uncertainty wasn\u2019t enough to stop her from moving forward, and she formed the committee last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I think (Wilson) is certainly admirable and formidable, she hasn\u2019t made up her mind and it isn\u2019t clear to me that she is going to choose this race,\u201d Arnold-Jones said. \u201cThe one thing the Republican Party needs is candidates, and if we wait, then we will not be competitive with the Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she jumps in, then I have to make a choice, but until then I\u2019m going to work it hard,\u201d Arnold-Jones said.<\/p>\n

Uncertainty about Wilson shouldn\u2019t deter others<\/span><\/p>\n

New Mexico State University government professor and political analyst Jose Z. Garcia said uncertainty about Wilson\u2019s plans shouldn\u2019t deter other potential candidates, largely because Wilson lost last year\u2019s Senate primary and has never proven that she can win a statewide race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile she would be formidable (in a primary), it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that she would bounce out potentially viable candidates,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

Zanetti has previously acknowledged that he got into the race early because his name recognition was low, and if he wanted to compete in a primary with better-known candidates like Pearce or Wilson he would have to spend more time building an organization.<\/p>\n

In a statement released Wednesday by his campaign, Zanetti said Pearce\u2019s decision to run for Congress will benefit \u201cRepublicans at all levels\u201d because Pearce can \u201cmotivate a conservative base that nobody else could reach.\u201d His only comment on Wilson is that he has no insight into what she\u2019s going to do.<\/p>\n

\u2018A healthy process\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Garcia said the crowded field in the Republican gubernatorial primary is an indication that the GOP is searching for an identity after losing ground in the 2008 election. He called it \u201ca healthy process.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult to identify the best candidate for the Republican Party at this point because the primary is almost a year away, Garcia said. The economy could get better or worse. President Barack Obama\u2019s popularity could go up or down. And, with so many criminal investigations and court cases involving allegations of public corruption pending in New Mexico, Garcia pointed out the possibility of more indictments of Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother few indictments, another few pay-to-play scandals in the state, and it may be cleanup time,\u201d Garcia said. \u201c\u2026 This could be very fertile ground for Republicans to win. The question would be, who would you win with?\u201d<\/p>\n

Depending on the climate next spring, Garcia said he \u201ccould see a dark horse coming out of nowhere and winning\u201d the Republican gubernatorial primary. He pointed to former Gov. Gary Johnson<\/a>, a Republican who did something similar in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

On the Democratic side, the only declared candidate is Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a>. Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez<\/a> says he\u2019s formed an exploratory committee as he considers challenging Denish for the nomination, but he hasn\u2019t been very active in the race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Steve Pearce running for Congress, the biggest question for Republicans right now is whether Heather Wilson is going to run for governor Is Heather Wilson going to run for governor or not? That\u2019s the biggest question for New Mexico Republicans, now that former U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., has decided to try to regain […]<\/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-4720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4720","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=4720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}