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 Tuesday, Scott Brown pulled off one of the biggest upsets in modern political history when he became the first Republican to hold a Senate seat in Massachusetts in nearly 30 years. Brown defeated Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts Attorney General, 53-47 after trailing Coakley in the polls by double digits just weeks before.
The victory is all the more significant because it is the 41st seat for Republicans, eliminating a 60-seat supermajority held by Democrats for the past six months (since Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched parties from Republican to Democratic). Symbolically, the loss of the seat long-held by the late Ted Kennedy may be a devastating blow to efforts to health care reform — one of the great passions of Kennedy’s life.
The seat was lost because of voter anger in Massachusetts, an apathetic Democratic base, a seemingly lackluster Democratic candidate prone to gaffes and seemingly averse to holding public campaign events–and another quirky special election. Brown vastly outnumbered the amount of campaign events that Coakley held and his campaign mistakes did not create the media firestorms that Coakley’s did.
All agree — including President Barack Obama who called to congratulate Senator-elect Brown last night — that Brown ran a better race than Coakley.
Republicans in New Mexico welcomed the news and hoped that the trend would extend to the 2010 statewide elections, when all representatives are up for re-election, and all statewide seats, including the governor’s office, are up for grabs.
“The rise of the Tea Parties and the elections in New Jersey and Virginia clearly show people are tired of the government taking control of their lives,” Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Turner said in a press release.
Another Republican gubernatorial candidate, Allen Weh, said that Brown’s win is an example of voters from all parties being “frustrated with the status quo.”
Republican candidate Susana Martinez said: “Frustrated voters [in Massachusetts] cast their ballot for change and rejected the entitlement mentality.”
Both Republican candidates in the 3rd Congressional District welcomed the news, with Adam Kokesh saying that it proves that there is no such thing as a safe Democratic seat.
