CD1

Albuquerque Democrat Martin Heinrich, who is running for reelection to Congress in 2010, is one of four freshman representatives who have been endorsed by NARAL Pro-Choice America Political Action Committee, Roll Call reported Monday.

Newly minted congressional hopeful Jon Barela spoke to Politico and, like 2008 Republican candidate Darren White, continued his attack on freshman U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich as “too far left.”

As of earlier today, Republican Jon Barela is now the first 2010 challenger to freshman Democratic Congressman Martin Heinrich. Barela announced his intention to run for the Albuquerque-based 1st Congressional District seat this morning at a press conference.

In an interview with Martin Heinrich less than an hour after his acceptance speech on election night, the congressman-elect told the New Mexico Independent, “The campaign’s never over.”
Sunday, a third-party candidate announced his intention to run in 2010 against Heinrich and whatever Republican steps up to challenge the first Democrat to ever hold the seat.
On [...]

While much of the attention was on the presidential election during the past few months, all political eyes are now on Minnesota, Alaska and Georgia’s U.S. Senate races. Alaska and Minnesota are still counting ballots, while Georgia is readying itself for a special election next month. Here in New Mexico, there was not as much drama in the race for Senate or even, ultimately, any of the open House seats.

Politico has a list of 25 key counties to watch for the presidential election. And two New Mexico counties are near the top of the list. Here they are, according to Politico:
3) Bernalillo County: Home to about one-third of New Mexico’s population, Albuquerque’s Bernalillo County is critical for both campaigns. Obama will likely carry the [...]

Democrat Martin Heinrich continues to hold onto a slim lead in New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, yet another poll is showing. Blogger Joe Monahan says in today’s “New Mexico Politics with Joe Monahan” that an automated poll conducted for him this week gives Heinrich 53 percent to Republican challenger Darren White’s 44 percent.

The latest volley in the battle between Republican Darren White and former Albuquerque City Councilor Martin Heinrich for New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District is a doozy, with White’s newest TV ad calling his opponent “disgraceful, dishonorable, extreme” based on Heinrich’s environmental work and associations. Heinrich’s campaign fired back that the ad is “more brazen lies” from White.

In Time magazine’s “Races to Watch ‘08″ section of its Web site, and presumably in its upcoming print issue, the CD1 race between Democrat Martin Heinrich and Republican Darren White is mentioned prominently. Under the headline: “A New Mexico Republican Can’t Shake Bush.”

A recently linked “death list” of U.S. House races shows that the Republican Party is not very optimistic about limiting losses to seats in the House in November’s elections.
You can view the list, which includes New Mexico’s 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts, here.

TruTouch Technologies, an Albuquerque high-tech company on the front lines of battling drunken driving, could lose a substantial contract with Bernalillo County after two of its officers apparently failed to disclose campaign contributions to Republican congressional candidate Darren White. A state ethics law may have been violated.

In another sign of a Democratic wave this year, the Cook Political Report has moved the 1st Congressional District race in New Mexico to “Lean-Democratic” from the previous “Toss Up” designation.
The non-partisan political analyst David Wasserman changed twelve races and wrote, “… our current outlook is a gain of 23 to 28 seats for House [...]

A few good punches were thrown but there didn’t seem to be much blood on the mat after 1st Congressional District candidates Martin Heinrich and Darren White met elbow-to-elbow Wednesday night.

The two candidates for New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District seat have been trading barbs over the airwaves and in the news media for months, but have rarely met face to face. That changes this week with three televised events and a fourth in front of a live audience but with no cameras.

The Republican Party of New Mexico has ratcheted up its offensive in the battle to keep from losing control of New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, running a harsh new TV ad this week that brought a quick response from an attorney for the campaign of Democrat Martin Heinrich.