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.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is already targeting what they believe will be vulnerable Democrats for 2008 — including Harry Teague of New Mexico. Marc Ambinder reported that the NRCC targeted 30 Democrats with radio ads attacking them for their stimulus vote.
“The ads say that these Dems ‘voted for a wasteful, porkbarreled spending program,’ and include the Litany — STDs, smoking cessations, NEA funding,” Ambinder wrote Thursday. “The ad buys aren’t large, but they’re the first major effort by the right-of-center crowd to hold Democrats accountable.”
While Harry Teague was targeted, it was notable that another name was omitted from the list — fellow freshman Democrat Martin Heinrich. While Teague represents a conservative district, Heinrich represents a much more moderate district. The profile of the districts targeted were similar — districts that George W. Bush won against John Kerry.
The 1st Congressional District in New Mexico has been won by the Democratic presidential candidate in each of the last three elections. The 2nd Congressional District, represented by Teague, has been won by the Republican presidential candidate in each of the last three elections.
Only two congressmen, Bruce Braley of Iowa and Dan Maffei of New York, represented districts that were won by John Kerry in 2004, according to numbers provided by Swing State Project, a progressive blog. Only four of the congressmen targeted represented districts won by Al Gore in 2000.
Interestingly, 15 of the districts were won by Barack Obama in November’s elections, with one tied and one undecided. The other 13 were won by Republican candidate John McCain.
Of the 30 members of Congress targeted, 23 were elected in either 2006 or 2008. Just three were elected before 2000.
