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.
As Marjorie Childress noted in NMI’s blog roundup, Democracy for New Mexico highlighted some donations by Val Kilmer to Ralph Nader, even after Democratic nominee and now President Barack Obama secured his party’s nomination.
In fact, the donations from the actor to Nader came less than a month before the Democratic National Convention in Denver — which reminded me of something. I thought that I had heard that Kilmer was in Denver when I was in the Mile High City during the week of the convention. I was there to report on the action. Kilmer, who ultimately did not appear in Denver, was scheduled to appear at a Nader rally.
Kilmer was supposed to attend an “Open the Debates” rally along with Sean Penn, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and punk icon Jello Biafra. The Ralph Nader campaign Web site even advertised that Kilmer would attend less than a week before the rally.
But there was no mention of Kilmer on the recap of the event from the Ralph Nader blog.
A blog from the Denver magazine 5280 noted that a ‘Val Kilmer-less Ralph Nader” spoke in Denver.
Val Kilmer couldn’t make it to Denver, which was bad news for fans of Real Genius and supporters of Ralph Nader. Kilmer was supposed to speak at Nader’s Open the Debates rally on Wednesday night. The no-show diminished the event’s Hollywood factor, leaving Sean Penn as the lone movie star who took the stage during the night at Magness Arena (worthy indie musicians Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine did speak and sing for the crowd).
So assuming Kilmer is not interested running for governor as a Democrat, here’s something else to keep in mind: it is very difficult to win as a third-party candidate in New Mexico — perhaps impossible. Kilmer should ask someone like Rick Lass. Steve Terrell reported on Roundhouse Roundup and in the Santa Fe New Mexican that PRC candidate Lass switched party affiliations to Democratic from Green Party after his loss to comically bad Democratic candidate Jerome Block Jr.
Carol Miller has, perhaps, done the best of any Green Party candidate. She received 17 percent of the vote in a 1997 special election to replace Bill Richardson as representative in the 3rd Congressional district after Richardson was tapped for a spot as U.N. ambassador under President Bill Clinton. Republican Bill Redmond ended up winning, but was ousted in the 1998 election by Tom Udall (who has since become Sen. Tom Udall). In that election, Miller managed only 6,103 votes.
So will Kilmer be able to do what these other third-party candidates have been unable to do — appeal to Democratic voters in a significant enough of a way to win an election? History says probably not, but, then again, no celebrity has run for statewide office in New Mexico.
