I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
An interesting story in yesterday’s USA Today said that Barack Obama, who will be the fifth youngest President ever when sworn in, will be working with the oldest Congress ever.
The average age will be 57 in the House and 63 in the Senate, according to the chambers’ historical offices. In each case, it’s the highest on record.
So how do our new delegations stack up? In the House, the average age of the three new members of the House is 44 years old, well below the average. In the Senate, with 65-year-old Jeff Bingaman and 60-year-old Tom Udall, the average is 62.5 years, right about at the average.
But some more interesting musings on the age of the House delegation here in New Mexico. Ben Ray Lujan, at 36 years, 6 months and 30 days old on the day he was sworn in, is the third-youngest representative in New Mexico history. The youngest was Ed Foreman, who, when sworn in, was just 35 years, 11 days old. Foreman was actually elected to Congress at a younger age — six years earlier, he was elected to Congress in Texas’ 16th Congressional District.
The second-youngest was current Gov. Bill Richardson, who was 35 years, one month and 19 days old when sworn in. Martin Heinrich edges his predecessor Heather Wilson four fourth-youngest. At 37 years, 2 months and 20 days old when sworn in, he was 3 months and 4 days younger than Heather Wilson when she was sworn in in 1998 after a special election.
The oldest to be sworn in for a first term? John E. Miles was 64 years old when sworn in for his only term back in 1949.
However, Lujan is just the fourth-youngest Democrat in this year’s freshman class according to the blog Future Majority. Heinrich ranks fifth youngest among Democrats. Both are old men compared to Illinois Republican Aaron Schock, who is the first representative in Congress to be born in the 1980s (May 28, 1981).
