2 good news stories re RI and NM

[AlCzervik]

Difficulty Winning Over Dems Puts GOP’s Wilson in Tough Spot
By Kathleen HunterFri Oct 13, 7:11 PM ET
New Mexico Republican Rep. Heather A. Wilson (news, bio, voting record), who is seeking a fifth full term in the House, has always had one key ingredient in her recipe for success in the politically competitive, Albuquerque-based 1st District: her ability to attract support from independent voters and even some Democrats.

But local analysts say the race this year between Wilson and her Democratic challenger, state Attorney General Patricia Madrid, is too close to call — to a large degree because this year Democrats are “coming home” to their own party’s candidate.

With signs that Democrats are gaining momentum across the country adding impetus, CQPolitics.com has changed its rating on the race to No Clear Favorite from Leans Republican.

An Albuquerque Journal poll conducted Sept. 25-28 showed the two candidates running neck and neck, with each garnering support from 44 percent of likely voters who responded to the survey.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20061013/pl_cq_politics/difficultywinningoverdemsputsgopswilsonintoughspot&printer=1;_ylt=AkOAjQc8ehBUV6U58mI2zD_5R9AF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

And.....

Rhode Island’s Democratic Lean May Be Too Much for Chafee
By Marie Horrigan2 hours, 52 minutes ago
Throughout the 2006 campaign year, Republican Rick Santorum of the swing state of Pennsylvania had a lonely position as the only senator rated by CQPolitics.com as an underdog for re-election.

He now has company: CQ has changed its rating on the race in Rhode Island, where Republican Lincoln Chafee is fighting for his political career, to Leans Democratic from No Clear Favorite.

A poll released Tuesday by Rhode Island College showed Whitehouse leading Chafee by 3 percentage points — within the survey’s statistical margin of error, but a significant swing since April, when Chafee led by 19 percentage points, and June, when the Republican led by 3 percentage points.

A separate poll released Tuesday by Rasmussen Reports found Whitehouse leading Chafee by 10 percentage points, 49 percent to 39 percent.

Chafee, like other endangered Republicans this year, is dealing with the full compliment of national problems that plague the GOP, underscored by deep drops in public approval for President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20061014/pl_cq_politics/rhodeislandsdemocraticleanmaybetoomuchforchafee&printer=1;_ylt=AvJLgoAN7diPOJuMXOIMHr_5R9AF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

[Horse with no Name]

1. Problem is

that their Governor in NM is more than happy to erase the voting machines even when there are discrepancies.
That doesn't bode well for Democratic candidates in NM.

[AlCzervik]

2. ok sorry, i'll take my sunshine and stick it somewhere the sun don't shine

[rodeodance]

9. hey, i love your sunshine. give me hope. thanks

[Horse with no Name]

29. Hey Rhode Island news is good

:thumbsup:

[Glorfindel]

4. hmmm....I thought the governor of New Mexico was a good Democrat

named Bill Richardson. Do you mean to say he manipulates voting machines to HELP elect Repukes? That doesn't sound exactly right somehow.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. You're half right.

[Horse with no Name]

6. If you are really serious

Look it up. The info is out there.
New Mexico was a very good candidate to PROVE election fraud once and for all. Also, it looked favorable that there was a Democratic Governor that wouldn't impede the investigation--unlike the Ohio discrepancies where they ran up against brick walls with Blackwell, etc.
The numbers didn't jive at all in NM.
There was a lawsuit pending, Bill Richardson ORDERED the machines wiped.
Not that they needed them or anything, he just wanted them wiped.
Now--one has to wonder WHY?
What was he hiding?

[AspenRose]

7. That's why I cringe every time I see someone here at DU touting

Richardson as a presidential candidate. :puke: I just tolerate Richardson. Major DLC; major Machiavellian-type.

(I live here in NM....GO PATSY!)

[Horse with no Name]

11. I truly believe HE is the only candidate I couldn't get behind and support

After bawling and squalling, I'd even get behind Hillary.
But there isn't ANY circumstance where I would get behind this guy.
Thankfully his past will keep him out of the Oval Office so it will never come to that.:whew:

[TygrBright]

16. uh.... Richardson is a Dem. And while he's certainly a...

...Good Ol' Boy, business-as-usual politician, he's not THAT corrupt. Hell, by NM standards he rates as damn' near a googoo.

Until quite recently all politics was conducted on a cash-and-carry basis in Santa Fe. Give us a little time to pull things around, hmmm? We're workin' agin four hundred years of tradition, here.

placatingly,
Bright

[Horse with no Name]

22. "He's not that corrupt."

Then why did he object to a recount?
What was he hiding and for whom--especially with such a large undervote?
You would think he would want the truth?
Perhaps the favors he has garnered for New Mexico came at a price that cost the rest of the country?

[AspenRose]

24. One thing Bright is definitely correct about....

....that 'Patron' system still influencing Santa Fe politics is a b*tch! *nodding* "Four hundred years of tradition", true dat!

[blonndee]

26. It's too bad that in NM it seems to be that we take what

we can get, huh? I don't know enough about the Richardson vote "scandal" to comment, as I wasn't living in NM at the time and didn't follow it very closely, but I know that NM has at LEAST its fair share of corruption, among both repukes and Dems. That's one reason, at least for where I grew up in NM, that Dems had a hard time. But the reds can keep screeching...NM is blue, I think, and getting bluer. We've got to clean up our act, because we have SO much potential. New Mexico really represents an authentic "melting pot," a diverse mix of races, economic classes, and social povs, that I think our state has a lot to offer and contribute. If WE can get it together, (I hate to make this analogy, but feel it apt), WE can be "the shining light on a hill." I often feel, as a native New Mexican, that here in this state we have a very "true" representation of "America" that lots of people seem unaware of.

[TygrBright]

28. We have a LOT here that the rest of the country could...

...benefit from examining more closely. I would not minimize the challenges of having such a diverse population and such a long, complex history, but I would say that NM has achieved a pretty sustainable social model under such circumstances.

And God knows, New Mexicans are better at coping with shortages and inaccessibility of essential resources than any American state I'VE ever seen. (Though I haven't seen 'em all. Maine may have a credible claim in that area, too.) We can do more with less here than just about anywhere I've ever examined. And New Mexicans balance the pioneer spirit of independent cussedness with the pioneer spirit of close community cooperation and interdependence expertly.

Yes, we have plenty of corruption here, but we're not even in the top five for that. We've made immense progress in the last 50 years. The remnants of the Patron system and the old cash-and-carry model ARE fading. One of Richardson's strengths is that he has been adroit in implementing change in small, steady, slow increments that don't generate a backlash and resistance that would set the whole effort back. One of his weaknesses is that he's more than a little arrogant about his accomplishments, and a shameless self-promoter. But during his Goobership, so far as I can tell, the Democratic Party has done very well in NM, slowly gaining strength in "purple" regions, and consolidating and strengthening its statewide infrastructure.

The pace of change, like the pace of everything else, is slower here. Remember our unofficial State Motto: "Welcome to New Mexico. What's Your Hurry?" When we first moved here it had me tearing my hair out in handfuls, and it still drives me nuts on occasion. But you learn to live with it, and even appreciate the benefits. Like the winters in MN where I grew up, it keeps the riffraff out.

Give us time. Richardson ain't my idea of The Perfect Dem, but he's not doing badly and I doubt he'd do anything to deliberately harm other Dems, even if he disagreed with them.

soothingly,
Bright

[Horse with no Name]

30. I grew up in the Southwest

and spent quite a lot of time in New Mexico.
I love Albuquerque and I visit at least once a year.
It is a breathtaking state.
It's the "manana" attitude that I love--but of course, it is familiar.
I don't hate your state. On the contrary.
I just resent what happened.
I guess we will just have to see what happens this election cycle.

[hsher]

31. Totally agreed

Just say it!
"Manana!" :)

[hsher]

32. Agreed with Bright; can't see IGNORED anymore, thank goodness

I agree with YOU, Bright. Manana is definitely a way of life here. It'll change you.

[Horse with no Name]

33. self delete

Aint worth it

[blonndee]

36. What you said about the New Mexican "spirit" totally resonated with me

because I JUST read the latest "enchantment" magazine, which is a publication of a collaboration of NM electric co-ops.

You said, "...New Mexicans balance the pioneer spirit of independent cussedness with the pioneer spirit of close community cooperation and interdependence expertly."

TOTALLY! And that's how our electric co-ops and our food co-ops were born and KEEP SURVIVING. When I learned of how these CONTINUE to survive in NM, I knew my beloved home state still has the potential to be, as I said, "the shining city on a hill." And even--and perhaps even especially--among old-style conservatives like my parents, who are also native NMicans. They have that "independent cussedness" but have also experienced loss when Rethug policies have undermined entrepeneurship and independent work ethic. They first-hand experience the hard-core work ethic of those "illegals" and realize that the Mexicans are NOT the enemy. They are, as are many NMicans, economically conservative, and slow to change, but at heart, common-sensical and practical. I think this state will always be co-op and pro-worker at its core, and if we can only have the guts to stand for that and if our more religious constituents can realize how very much that reflects our moral "superiority," (which I honestly think NM is on the cusp of doing), we will indeed be a model for the country.

[TygrBright]

40. Yup. It reminds me very much of the MN of my childhood...

...the land of the "Democratic/Farmer-Labor" Party. The Farmer-Labor Party was part of a 3rd-Party movement from the early 20th Century, along the old Socialist lines, and it was very strong among the newly-unionized urban workforce and the old-guard rural folks who founded the agricultural co-ops to manage their own collection/storage/distribution networks, etc. It had quite a run in the upper Midwest, even generating a major Presidential candidate from Wisconsin, LaFollette.

During the Depression, the Farmer/Labor Party began to caucus with the Democrats, and finally consolidated (in MN, anyway) on the condition that they keep their agenda alive within the Party as a co-equal element. Hence the adoption of the official name, which still stands in MN to this day. The MN Dems of my youth were hard-core populists with rather conservative social values but a rock-steady commitment to economic independence through maintaining control of their economic infrastructure.

I was amazed and delighted to find that spirit here in NM, with our drive for energy independence, robust small-business sector, network of long-established rural co-ops, and vibrant urban/rural linkages. I'm proud to be an adopted New Mexican! It's like coming home, since the old Minnesota DFL has slid so far downhill toward corporate serfdom and GOPpie bootlicking.

I am already a member of one CSA program as well as the Alliance here in Santa Fe, which supports local businesses and local economic interactions. These are exactly the kind of models we need to insulate ourselves from the coming crash as the megacorp economy comes apart in the face of climate change and geopolitical chaos, not to mention populist revolt.

FWIW, I very much doubt that our respected Goob thinks in precisely those terms, but I do think he has a good grasp of the importance of our small-business sector, and has done some good things to empower small businesses and community entrepreneurs.

appreciatively,
Bright

[Lexingtonian]

3. Madrid is up 51-48 in the latest poll

by Constituent Dynamics.

Chafee is a goner in RI- he's been down 8-10% for a month- and I like Madrid's chances.

[hsher]

8. I live in Albuquerque, NM. Let me set y'all straight here.

Governor Richardson, first of all, is doing no such thing. That is Republican propaganda. Richardson is one of the best things to happen to New Mexico. His film initiative alone will be bringing our state more than $117 million in revenues, something Republican governors before him cannot claim. He's attracted a lot of envy. Before anyone believes scuttlebutt about this exemplary Dem governor, they should live here awhile first and see what he's done for our community first-hand.

I have met Heather Wilson. She seems, in all fairness, to be A MODERATE REPUBLICAN. Our meeting was at the Support Israel rally, held at the Gardenswartz Jewish Community Center on Wyoming Boulvevard here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. By chance, her chair and mine were side by side, and I got to talk with her at length - between the hordes of fundies crowding the auditorium cheering for Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon and his Mossad bodyguards, and the singing of the hatikvah. I would have to say, again in all fairness, Wilson does not seem a bad sort. This is a huge part of her appeal to Independents and some NM Dems (though not me): she is an expert at the common touch and exudes genuine friendliness and approachability. She also follows up quickly with personal letters. In fact she seems a little TOO soft, sweet and nice to survive in politics. She is, however, extremely "lips and teeth" (a close ally) with the tiny community of evangelist Christians in New Mexico. I detected what seemed to be a tight loyalty towards them, and a lack of subtlety in understanding Christian plans for Israel and the Jews as a community and people. She is a Zionist. I am Jewish and I am not; nor is Rabbi Schmulkyer, a Hasid who leads Chabad here, and his Chabad community, of which I am not a part. I am a Conservative synagogue-goer (Conservative means something different in Judaism than it does in politics! Relax! It means we read in Hebrew at service instead of in English, dress demurely, and observe Torah, but are not as deep into Torah as the Orthodox, who are fundamentalist Jews who follow Torah STRICTLY, no deviations or modernizations).

I did NOT get a bad feeling off Rep. Wilson, per se. I actually liked her.

The race between Wilson and Madrid is not tight. Madrid looks favored to win. I personally hope she does, if for no other reason than the extremely nasty fliers Republican supporters of Wilson have buried our fair Duke City in since 2006 election campaigns began. The ads are ugly, and I've referred to them on DU already. No need to rehash them again. I will try to post a few here on DU later this evening, for everyone's perusal, so you can what Republican ads against Madrid look like herein New Mexico, and can see how desperate Rethugs are, and are making this election.

I for one am voting for Madrid. I'd invite Heather to dinner, but I prefer Patsy Madrid as my Representative in Washington. I'm unsure how Santa Fe and small towns like Grant and Ruidoso feel about it, but Albuquerque for the most part seems to be a cinch for Madrid. Santa Fe is even more liberal than we are --

And that's definitely saying something.

[Horse with no Name]

10. Let me set YOU straight

Yes, he did.

[hsher]

13. Where do you live, and do you get the ABQ Journal?

Do you live here? Has it been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt? I'd appreciate you citing your sources. (Going up to review prior posts.) If you prove me wrong, then there, I'm wrong.
But to make retorts like that to the posts of people WHO LIVE IN NEW MEXICO opens a hole up under you that you better hope you don't fall in.

[Horse with no Name]

15. You probably don't want the truth

since you are a Richardson fan--obviously.

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1100
What are they hiding in New Mexico?
by Warren Stewart, National Ballot Integrity Project
January 18, 2005

In the shadow of overwhelming irregularities in the Ohio’s election, New Mexico has played out it’s own post-election drama almost unnoticed by anyone outside the state. Even before the November 2, New Mexico had been in the news for reports of malfunctioning voting machines and other problems. Hundreds of incidents were reported on Election Day. The state got some national attention for once again leading the nation in undervote rate. All this coupled with a small margin of victory in the presidential race (just 3/4 of 1%) led to concern about the accuracy of the results.

Soon after the November 23 certification of New Mexico’s election results, the Green and Libertarian presidential candidates requested a recount and deposited the $108, 000 required by the New Mexico State Code. By the middle of December over a thousand volunteers had been organized to act as observers and coordinators for the recount. On December 15, the State Canvassing Board granted the request for a recount, but also demanded that the recount advocates would be required to come up with $1.4 million by 10 a.m. the next day in order to proceed. That demand was contrary to New Mexico law as there is no legal requirement that candidates pay the full cost of a recount in advance, nor any way to accurately estimate the cost of a recount before it is completed. Recount proponents went to court to have the $1.4 million charge dropped. On December 17, a New Mexico court reaffirmed the decision of the Canvassing Board and on December 23 the New Mexico Supreme Court upheld the $1.4 Million demand.

Around this time the Greens and Libertarians offered a compromise in which they would pay in advance for a recount of 10% of the state's precincts, and then seek a full recount only if the results warranted it. Governor Bill Richardson repeatedly rejected this offer. In spite of this, Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron suggested last week that because recount advocates had never presented her with a list of 10% of the precincts she was sending a letter to county clerks giving them permission to clear the memory logs of the voting machines (http://www.abqjournal.com/elex/apmachines01-13-05.htm). But she and the Governor had never accepted the compromise and never requested the list of precincts. Saturday’s court decision to deny a temporary restraining order to protect the machine memory and the process of erasing that began in several counties immediately results in a forced electoral amnesia that precludes any chance of verifying the election data. In the case of the paperless voting machines used in 82% of the state on Election Day, the only record that remains is the certified canvass report.

But that canvass report is riddled with anomalies. In comparing the number of ballots cast (that is, the number of voters who signed the poll books or submitted an absentee or provisional ballot) with the total number of presidential votes in any precinct, there turn out to be three possibilities. There can me more ballots cast than total votes for president (these are called undervotes), the same number of votes counted as ballots cast (I’ll call those zero-undervotes), and alarmingly there is also the situation where the number of presidential votes exceeds the number of ballots cast (these are called ‘phantom votes’). Since these are all mutually exclusive results, it is extraordinary to find excessively high rates of all of three in the same state for the same contest, but that’s what happened in New Mexico according to the canvass report.

[AspenRose]

12. She has good points...I'm closer to Santa Fe

and am very grateful I have Tom Udall representing me (he's somewhat moderate too, but I'll take it). I think the vibe with folks in SF is closer to how I feel about Richardson, though (sorry, I know he's talented, etc. but I don't fully trust him) because SF is more liberal.

[hsher]

14. I'm going to walk out of this one

Cos', you know, somebody who doesn't live in New Mexico would of course know more, without citing any verifiable facts or sources, naturally, about what my Governor has and hasn't done, than a registered NM voter who actually lives here. I hate forum fights, and it's always some belligerent so-and-so who comes swinging wanting to start one.

As we say in Hollywood, "Pass."

Peace, white light, and love.

[Horse with no Name]

17. Cut and run eh?

Doesn't surprise me one bit.

One doesn't HAVE to live there to know what happened there.
For anyone who has followed the incidents of of election fraud, we know what happened there.

And regardless, I provided you with a link.

Besides--isn't the Albuquerque Journal a right wing publication?
Can you tell me who they endorsed for the 2004 Presidential Election?

[hsher]

18. Nobody's cut or run. I got bored waiting for you to cite your sources.

Sorry, FreePress is not enough. Legitimate sources please.
Until then, yawn, ignore.

[Horse with no Name]

19. LOL

Nothing will be good enough for you.
Why don't you run back to where you came from.
You won't be missed here.
YAWN.

[alittlelark]

39. I met her also... my grandmothers home had a reverse mortgage

and less than a day after she died 'SOMEONE' came in w/ bolt cutters and took $30,000 worth of art etc. My father (AF COL) called her. We got the goods back right away.... the HUD office had been saying they didn't even have her in the system.


WILSON KNOWS about the corruption in the NM HUD dept. She ignores it until she is FORCED to do something about it. My father is a nuclear physicist and was ready to take it to the rails.... she stopped him by somehow finding the clock and the other art.


H. Wilson is a TOOL and a blatant embarrassment. She stand the slimmest of chances of retaining her seat.

[hsher]

41. That's disappointing. But then... she's a Republican

Overall though, Little Lark, I just cannot trust politicians on either side. Dems are the best of the lot, but We The People could do it better. We all need to stop trusting them, and allowing them to "speak for us" and "govern us". The original politicians in this country were (*where*) just regular folk: farmers and writers mostly.

When are we going to take our country back and govern and speak for ourselves, instead of letting various slimy, lying, smiling, hand-shaking, baby-kissing, crooked and insincere "career politicians" do it?

What, I wonder, is a "career politician"
What kind of human being is attracted to becoming one?
IMHO, that's the problem.

[hsher]

20. Boy, somebody had a bad day

:freak:

[Horse with no Name]

21. Nah just some of us demand truth and accountability

from our politicians.
Democrats included.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Horse with no Name]

27. Not knowing or acknowledging the truth is a good thing for you, eh?

So glad I am on ignore.
However, I won't put you on ignore.
I want to see how long you last after reading a couple of your other responses to other posts.
:popcorn:

[hsher]

25. Peace

Light

[LeahD]

34. Richardson threw up a roadblock for the recount in 2004...........

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=47&Itemid=138

Shortly after the state certified the results of the November 2004 election, presidential candidates from the Green Party (David Cobb) and Libertarian Party (Michael Badnarik) requested a recount. The candidates had submitted a deposit of $114,400 and argued that was the proper amount for a recount based on a formula in state election law. Help America Recount coordinated the recruitment and training of hundreds of citizen observers. But the state canvassing board, which consisted of Governor Bill Richardson, Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Petra Maes decided in mid-December 2004 that the candidates could have a recount only if they paid a security deposit of $1.4 million, which was an estimate of the full cost of a statewide recount.

[LeahD]

35. Recent poll in NM for Madrid/Wilson:

http://www.madridforcongress.com/node/1031


An independent poll of New Mexico's First Congressional District conducted by Zogby International and published in the Washington Post shows Democratic candidate Attorney General Patricia 10 points ahead of her opponent, embattled Republican Rep. Heather Wilson.
The poll was conducted Sept. 25 to Oct. 2 – as the House page scandal unfolded on national television. The results are based on responses from 500 likely voters. The findings have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
<snip>
The most recent polls by the Albuquerque Journal and Lake Research Partners have shown the race is in a dead heat.

[blonndee]

38. Freaking GOOD!!! Pasty, kick her ASS!

La gente, esta es la gente. She thinks everyone is on her side because she thinks we don't exist. We have to show her we DO. Kick her entitled ass out, and tell our NM reps that we don't go for corporate-sponsored, scared-ass-republican candidates. We as NMicans have NEVER been scared, and have NEVER been dependent on corporations to make it. Kick them out. We don't need them.

[LeahD]

37. Link for summary of voting irregularities in election 2004, New Mexico....

http://www.votersunite.org/info/NewMexico2004ElectionDataReport-v2.pdf