{"id":4747,"date":"2009-07-17T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-17T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/07\/zanetti-withdraws-from-governors-race\/"},"modified":"2009-07-17T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-17T21:30:00","slug":"zanetti-withdraws-from-governors-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/07\/zanetti-withdraws-from-governors-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Zanetti withdraws from governor’s race"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

After a year at Guantanamo Bay, the Republican says more time away from his family \u2018is just not acceptable\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Republican Greg Zanetti<\/a>, for months the only declared 2010 Republican candidate for governor, dropped out of the race today.<\/p>\n

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

The Albuquerque financial adviser and Army National Guard brigadier general recently completed a year as deputy commander at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Upon returning, he began considering running for governor and traveling around the state.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThese travels only increased my love of New Mexico and my fellow citizens,\u201d Zanetti said in a prepared statement. \u201cBut to myself and to my family these travels seemed like another deployment. I missed a number of important family events.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI have concluded that another year away from my family is just not acceptable, so today I notified GOP Chairman Harvey Yates and other potential Republican candidates that I will not seek our party\u2019s nomination,\u201d Zanetti said.<\/p>\n

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

That leaves the GOP with one official candidate for governor: Do\u00f1a Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez<\/a>, who is formally announcing her candidacy later today<\/a>. But several other Republicans are also considering running.<\/p>\n

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

Former state GOP Chairman Allen Weh<\/a> and state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a> have formed exploratory committees. Former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a> and Doug Turner<\/a>, CEO of the Albuquerque-based public relations firm DW Turner, say they are seriously considering running for the GOP nomination. All are Albuquerque residents.<\/p>\n

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

Asked how Zanetti\u2019s withdrawal changes the dynamic of the race, Christine Sierra, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico, said Wilson is looming large over the process.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI think the Republicans are probably just jockeying for position and the one who really holds the cards right now is former Congresswoman Heather Wilson,\u201d she said, noting that Wilson has name recognition and the experience of running a statewide campaign that the others don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

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

Wilson has given no timeline for announcing a decision. She\u2019s currently in Africa<\/a> doing political and elections training.<\/p>\n

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

Arnold-Jones wrote in an e-mail that she is \u201cso sorry\u201d to hear about Zanetti\u2019s withdrawal from the race.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe state would benefit from his vast financial acumen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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

On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> is the only declared candidate for governor, though Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez<\/a> says he\u2019s formed an exploratory committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a year at Guantanamo Bay, the Republican says more time away from his family \u2018is just not acceptable\u2019 Republican Greg Zanetti, for months the only declared 2010 Republican candidate for governor, dropped out of the race today. The Albuquerque financial adviser and Army National Guard brigadier general recently completed a year as deputy commander […]<\/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-4747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4747","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=4747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4747\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}