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.
Two national governors groups have slugged it out for months in New Mexico’s governor race, sinking more than $2 million into the context, reports show.
So far, the Republican Governors Association (RGA) has outspent its Democratic counterpart, pumping $1.25 million into the contest compared to $900,000 from the Democratic Governors Association(DGA), state and federal records show.
That edge has helped propel front-runner Republican Susana Martinez toward what increasingly looks like victory on Nov. 2. Martinez has led Lt. Gov. Diane Denish in every independent poll for months and the gap appears to be widening.
The amount of money thrown around by the two governors groups opens a window into how much out-of-state money has entered New Mexico this election cycle. In addition to the $2 million spent by these two groups, at least another $1 million — the majority of it going to Martinez — has entered the governor’s race from outside groups, labor unions and wealthy individuals, pushing the amount of out-of-state money easily past $3 million.
An equal or greater amount of money from out-of-state groups has figured in two of New Mexico’s three congressional races this year.
Beyond demonstrating the amount of money out-of-state groups can throw around in a high-profile race, the big-money slugfest between the DGA and RGA in this year’s governor race also shows how valuable that post is to both national political parties.
In part, that’s because the next governor will preside over New Mexico when the 2012 presidential election rolls around. Governors are often viewed as powerful resources for a party’s nominee during a presidential election, especially in a battleground state like New Mexico.
Then there’s redistricting, the decennial tradition the New Mexico Legislature is about to embark on that requires redrawing the state’s legislative, and federal congressional districts.
With the New Mexico Legislature expected to stay Democratic, Republicans have all the more reason to want a chief executive to act as a check, observers have said.
Eye-popping contributions
That urgency has translated to eye-popping contributions to Martinez from the Republican Governors Association (RGA), which enjoys a five-to-one advantage over its Democratic counterpart in the amount of direct monetary contributions given, state and federal reports show. Records show the RGA giving four contributions of $250,000 and one for $500,000 to Martinez in recent months, records show.
They are among the largest single contributions to a political candidate in decades, if ever, and they come in the last election cycle in which contributors can give whatever they want to a candidate. New Mexico has long belonged to a handful of states where a contributor can give an unlimited sum to a political campaign. But that era ends the day after the Nov. 2 election, when a new law takes limiting campaign contributions takes effect.
“The Democrats are trying to defend more seats nationally,” said Albuquerque pollster Brian Sanderoff of Research and Polling Inc. “The Republicans are on the offensive and trying to net some seats.”
Added University of New Mexico political science professor Lonna Atkeson, “I don’t think the left has as many resources as the right.”
Denish also has benefited from big contributions from the DGA, records show. That group has given her $100,000, $50,000 and $25,000, according to state and federal campaign finance records. But the DGA also has helped in other ways, pumping in more than $750,000 on media buys to the Campaign Group out of Philadelphia to help the Denish campaign with TV ads, state records show.
From Aug. 26 through Sept. 20, the Democratic governors group purchased four media buys from that firm, in amounts of $220,000, $165,000, $165,000 and $219,500, state records show.
Groups like the DGA and RGA, which compete to elect governors from their respective parties, often play a complicated game of political chess each election year as they decide which gubernatorial races across the country are competitive and which are not. Those that are judged as uncompetitive, or too much of a risk, usually lose out in the funding sweepstakes that can result if a candidate attracts interest from a national governors group.
The DGA is competitive in other governor’s races. For example, the DGA has given $1 million to Iowa Gov. Chet Culver’s re-election effort this year and another $1 million to Pennsylvania Democrat Don Onorato, reports show.
High stakes game
The RGA’s advantage in spending in New Mexico might be aided by its sizable fundraising advantage over the DGA nationally, according to reports filed with the federal Internal Revenue Service.
For the three months ending Sept. 30, the Republican Governors Association took in $31 million in contributions while spending just over $40 million, according to a 268-page report filed with the IRS.
That compares to the $9.8 million the DGA took in contributions and the $19 million it spent over the same period, its 261-page Internal Revenue Service report shows.
The RGA has kept a sizable monetary advantage all year, in fact, as it raised $28 million in the first half of the year compared to the DGA’s $17 million, the IRS reports show.
