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.
In his latest campaign ad, Tom Udall invokes the infamous Gordon House drunk-driving crash which killed four people.
In an ad titled "Tragedy," Udall speaks to the camera as he stands to the side of the highway where the crash occurred on Christmas Eve in 1992. Udall was New Mexico’s attorney general at the time of the fatal car crash.
"I’ve been fighting for tougher drunk-driving laws," Udall tells the camera in the ad. "But it wasn’t until this happened that we were finally able to get tough laws passed."
This isn’t the first time that Udall invoked his time as attorney general in an ad. In his first general election ad, titled "What’s Right," Udall briefly mentioned that he "helped pass" laws that lowered the standard for blood alcohol content and increased prison time for repeat offenders.
Such an ad must walk a tightrope; Udall has to appear to not be attempting to benefit from a tragedy. But on the other hand, Udall has to show his time as attorney general was part of his requisite experience.
In his campaign ads so far, Udall has spent the entire ad or a significant portion of the ad speaking to the camera. Narrators are kept at a minimum, and visuals of the outdoors usually figure prominently. In this case, there is no New Mexico sunset or famous New Mexico landscape, but a gray area next to I-25. The ad is definitely a departure from Udall’s previous ads.
"I approve this message because it shouldn’t take a tragedy for government to do what’s right," Udall ends the ad.
So far, Udall has not mentioned Steve Pearce’s name in any of his advertisements. He has, however, criticized the "George Bush economy" and Republicans in general in his ads.
