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.
On the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, New York Times columnist David Brooks said that Kennedy considered running for Senate in New Mexico but was instead told by his dad, Joseph Kennedy Sr., to stay in Massachusetts.Joe urged his son to run for Senate from the state where he ultimately became the second third-longest serving senator in United States history.
The late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy had well-known ties to New Mexico, especially the northern half of the state. He “was a frequent visitor to New Mexico, especially during election season,” the Santa Fe New Mexican’s Steve Terrell wrote.
But apparently the ties almost grew much tighter years earlier.
From the transcript of the August 26, 2009 show:
GWEN IFILL: David, over the course of his career, how much did his family legacy shape his course? And how much did his own personal foibles limit that course?DAVID BROOKS: Well, obviously, quite a lot. I mean, it was a very competitive family. He felt the burden of following in his brothers’ footsteps. At one point in his life, he wanted to move out to New Mexico and run from there. But his father said, “No, you run from Massachusetts. I`ve got a seat for you right here.” So he never quite broke away.
It was a quick mention of New Mexico, and the only one on the transcript, but one has to wonder how history may have been different if Ted Kennedy had his way and instead ran for Senate in New Mexico.
In his statement about Kennedy’s death, Gov. Bill Richardson cited Kennedy as a reason for his first win in Congress, though Terrell fact checks that statement and finds that Richardson would have most likely won whether or not Kennedy made a trip to northern New Mexico in 1982, the year that Richardson won the election for the newly-created 3rd Congressional District.
“The truth is, Richardson would have beaten Republican Marjorie Bell Chambers in the heavily Democratic district with or without Ted Kennedy,” Terrell wrote. “Basically Richardson won the seat when he won the Democratic primary that June.”
Terrell notes that in 1980, when Richardson unsuccessfully ran for the 1st Congressional District seat against sitting Republican Congressman Manuel Lújan, Kennedy did not help Richardson out in campaigning “because his staff people said I didn’t have a prayer.” This is according to Richardson’s autobiography Between Worlds.
No matter what, Kennedy has long ties to northern New Mexico and one still hears stories about how families have pictures of a Kennedy — whether it be Robert F. Kennedy or his brother, ex-President John F. Kennedy — hanging on the walls of their living rooms.
