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.
Dianna Duran
The last time a Republican won election as New Mexico Secretary of State Herbert Hoover was president and the Great Depression had just begun. Today E. A. Perrault’s role as New Mexico’s last Republican Secretary of State is a historical footnote, a two-year term ending 80 years ago, in 1930. But some political observers are wondering if 2010 might be the year of the GOP.
First-term Democratic Secretary of State Mary Herrera is viewed as vulnerable, after several employees have gone to the FBI to allege corruption in her administration. Herrera, for her part, has dismissed the accusations as politically motivated.
But a GOP victory isn’t a gimme, even if Herrera’s opponent is an experienced politician herself, said a prominent pollster. Herrera’s opponent, GOP state Sen. Dianna Duran, is a former Otero County Clerk with a working knowledge of the state election code, a major responsibility of the secretary of state.
“What it’s going to take is: Can the Republicans find the funding to get this message out to the public,” said pollster Brian Sanderoff of Albuquerque-based Research and Polling Inc.
A big campaign war chest would allow Duran to buy TV advertisements to promote her candidacy—and hammer away at Herrera and her troubles, Sanderoff said.
But do the Republicans have the resources to put into the Secretary of State’s race or do they have “other fish to fry?” Sanderoff asked.
Duran’s goal is to purchase time for television commercials, she told The Independent in a phone interview Tuesday.
“I’m hopeful. Our goal is to go up [on TV],” Duran said from Santa Rosa. “We know that we have to do that.”
She and her campaign are working with the Republican Party of New Mexico to arrange financial support, she said.
Asked if a big party contribution might wind up on her campaign finance report, due next Monday, Duran said, “I don’t know if you’ll see it in that report. You may see it on the next report. We are working on that as we speak.”
The Republican Party of New Mexico was circumspect about any potential financial help it might give Duran’s campaign.
“As election day nears, the party will continue to evaluate and allocate resources to our most competitive races,” said party spokeswoman Janel Causey.
But with more than 50 days before the November 2 election, the state Democratic Party isn’t giving up easily on keeping the Secretary of State’s office in the D column.
“The Democratic Party of New Mexico supports all state-wide Democratic candidates in their general election bids, including Secretary of State Mary Herrera, by assisting with fundraising, field work and media relations,” party spokesman James Halinan said in an e-mail late Tuesday afternoon.
