Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson will be allowed to participate in Thursday’s Fox News debate in Orlando, Fla., among Republican presidential candidates, The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz reports:

The former New Mexico governor won the right to participate, according to Fox sources, by cracking 1 percent in the latest five national polls in which he was included—Fox News, CNN, McClatchy-Marist, ABC, and Quinnipiac—which was the criterion the network had set for inclusion.

Talking Points Memo reports Johnson has yet to receive final notification that he will participate in the debate, though he told TPM, “It would be good news if we get it.”

Johnson is a self-identified libertarian who differentiates himself from Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), the more popular of the libertarian GOP candidates, with his support for abortion rights and his opposition to the construction of a border fence. He has attended one other GOP debate, where he was asked about his support for drug legalization and discussed his initial opposition to the war in Iraq.

According to Politico, Johnson’s inclusion in the debate came over the objection of the Florida Republican Party, which has excluded him from Saturday’s Florida straw poll.

If he does indeed receive a debate invitation, Johnson will have temporarily left the ranks of presidential candidates who have too little support to gain the valuable national airtime of a debate. These candidates include former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer (R), Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) and California Republican Fred Karger.

KOAT recapped the 2nd Congressonal District and 3rd Congressional District debates.

Teague continued to distance himself from the Democratic Party, saying that he voted against President Barack Obama’s budget and Speaker Nancy “Pelosi health care bill”

Pearce said that Teague’s vote for the American Clean Energy and Security Act, or the cap-and-trade bill, would stop oil and gas production in the state.

In the 3rd Congressional District debate, incumbent Democrat Ben Ray Luján revived Tom Mullins’comments about placing land mines on the border.

Republican front-runner Susana Martinez and Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish meet face-to-face for the final time in this year’s contentious gubernatorial race.

With the Nov. 2 election less than two weeks away, it’s difficult to know how much is truly at stake, given Martinez’s continued lead in every poll as well as her sizable fundraising edge.

The conventional wisdom is that is the Dona Ana County prosecutor’s race to lose, thanks to voter discontent and her repeated attempts to tie Denish to the scandal-plagued administration of Gov. Bill Richardson and to New Mexico’s Democratic party overall. Several high-profile Democratic elected officials, and at least one public official, have pleaded guilty to or been convicted on corruption-related charges since 2005, with several spending time in federal prison.

But political observers and junkies know that a bad moment for a front-runner can end up costing a candidate: Exhibit 1 is former Democratic congressional candidate and former attorney general Patricia Madrid who froze during her final debate in 2006 with then-U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson of the GOP. Madrid’s silence, and her bewildered look, became the center of a devastating ad that helped Wilson retain her seat despite a voter backlash that cost the GOP control of the U.S. congress.

With that historical context in mind, the Martinez camp likely will play defense tonigh, meaning Martinez likely will focus on not making any big mistakes while firmly rebutting Denish’s criticisms.

The Denish camp meanwhile has a choice: launch into attack mode, or play nice with hopes of wooing voters who remain undecided.

But the effectiveness of negative campaigning, despite repeated disavowals by American voters, suggests that there might be one last fireworks show tonight.

While it is still uncertain who will win Nov. 2, what is certain is the victor will face an unenviable task of leading New Mexico through rough times — times that will test, and likely expose, the high-flying rhetoric of a hotly contested race as exactly that, rhetoric.

Despite a yawning state budget gap, both Denish and Martinez have made promises on the campaign trail that might be hard to keep given the state’s budget situation.

Both candidates have said they won’t raise taxes in their first year and have promised not to cut two of the largest areas in the state budget — public education and Medicaid, the government’s low-income health insurance program.

Such statements have raised eyebrows as well as the level of skepticism among state lawmakers, more than one of whom has privately called such promises the result of the “silly season” — that time of the election season when candidates say what they think they have to say to get elected.

As Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, told the Albuquerque Journal yesterday, “I think the gubernatorial candidates are going to find it’s a lot easier to campaign than it is to govern.”

The debate, sponsored by The Rio Grande Foundation, will also air on 770 KKOB-AM and be shown online at KOB.com. It will be moderated by Tom Joles, Nicole Brady and Gary Garrison.

The debate is NOT open to the public. Tickets were given only to the campaigns and to the Rio Grande Foundation.

Its e-mailed debate announcement said:

The chamber has identified crime and safety in the central New Mexico region as a focus area, with the goal of creating a safer environment to live and work. The chamber has worked to reduce crime rates in all categories, especially property crimes, such as auto theft, business and home burglaries and check fraud, because property crime offenders often “graduate” to more violent crimes.

The event is free, but those who would like to attend should call 764-3763 or register online here.

White was more aggressive and definitely delivered some of the best lines of the night, but at times he sounded like a pesky little brother rather than the next congressman for New Mexico’s largest city. Heinrich was calm and composed in the face of White’s attacks and probably gave many viewers their first sense of his legislative experience, but he didn’t have the well of real-world experience that White easily draws from.

Both camps are likely to call it a victory, but undecided voters may want to sit through another one or more of the scheduled debates to make up their minds.

The debate got off to an uncomfortable start with the two candidates forced to sit side by side, rather than across from each other and on either side of KOB-TV moderators Tom Joles and Nicole Brady. Heinrich and White were at each other’s elbow rather than looking at one another, and the audience couldn’t watch one’s reaction while the other was speaking. When the debate began, White’s name initially was misspelled as “Darrin” and his microphone didn’t work.

From the beginning, Heinrich was the more staid and sober of the two, citing his legislative experience on the Albuquerque City Council and his ability to work with both sides of the aisle to pass balanced budgets and cut taxes. “Our adversaries need not be our enemies,” he intoned, repeating a line he has used often before. “Our challenge is to work with all sides.”

In contrast, White portrayed himself as the spunky, street-wise political veteran, a proud but independent Republican who has gotten along with Democrats for years. He reminded viewers that he’s a disabled veteran, a former street cop and a family man. “I know what it’s like,” he said. “I’ve been out there.”

He also was quick to undercut one of Heinrich’s principal campaign strategies — that White was a Bush administration flunkie. “Washington is broken,” White said, “and it’s not just the Bush administration, it’s Congress as well. I’ve showed I’m willing to stand up and fight for what’s right,” against Democrats and Republicans alike, he said.

If White didn’t want to be aligned with Bush, he did, however, invoke classic Republican themes. “We need to get off the backs of the middle class and out of their wallets,” he said. When asked whether there were better days ahead for the nation’s finances, White cited President Reagan and his famous line that America is a “beacon on a hill,” then added, “Maybe our light’s a little dimmer.”

On taxes, both candidates sounded like their respective presidential candidates, though neither John McCain nor Barack Obama was mentioned by name. Heinrich said his plan called for 95 percent of Americans to get a tax break; White said Heinrich would raise taxes, vowing that he never would.

The debate moderators played one of each candidate’s nastiest campaign ads and asked the other to critique. White threw a haymaker at Heinrich for the Democrat’s ad chastising White’s use of drug-raid money for cars, fences and other equipment when White was secretary of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety. “Martin, that is the height of hypocrisy,” White said, adding that the city of Albuquerque, when Heinrich was council president, did the same thing.

White’s ad featuring the parents of a slain Bernalillo County deputy, in which the deputy’s mother calls Heinrich “despicable,” brought a subdued response from Heinrich. “I don’t understand the ad,” the Democrat said, adding that “a lot of people were confused by it.”

But once the bottle was opened, White wouldn’t let up. “What you said about me was disgusting,” he said about Heinrich’s ads regarding White’s lack of support by the state police.

White kept up his offensive by insinuating that Heinrich had palled around with an eco-terrorist named Dave Foreman, and asked his opponent to reveal all his associations during the time Heinrich had a consulting business.

Heinrich had one of his best retorts of the night, saying that White’s guilty-by-association approach “isn’t working for John McCain” and wasn’t working in New Mexico. He noted that Foreman had also worked with Sen. Pete Domenici. “It doesn’t make Pete Domenici an eco-terrorist,” Heinrich said.

Asked how long U.S. troops should stay in Iraq, Heinrich said as short a time as possible, and when pressed said 12 to 18 months. White never answered, but turned the question to supporting the troops, and suggested his opponent would not. Heinrich easily parried, pointing to a city council resolution he supported that specifically called for full funding of the troops.

Both candidates said they support offshore oil drilling, but White would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge while Heinrich would not. White said more domestic oil production would bring down gas prices — an idea economists scoff at — but that in the long term the United States needs more alternative and nuclear energy. Heinrich has a similar energy policy, but said he wants a more robust, Apollo-style approach.

But White said Heinrich had “made a career of supporting groups that block drilling and nuclear power,” referring to Heinrich’s short-lived career as a consultant, and said it’s hard to believe the Democrat has changed his tune. “I’ve heard more believable stories from people I’ve stopped for speeding,” White quipped.

At times, White seemed to be reading straight from the GOP playbook, saying his Democratic opponent would raise taxes, increase spending and have government take over the health care system. He constantly prefaced his comments to Heinrich by addressing him as “Martin.”

Heinrich remained calm throughout the night, much as Obama refused to rise to McCain’s barbs during the presidential elections. At one point, after being called out as a tax-and-spend liberal, Heinrich heated up and said he was “the only one at this table who has voted to cut taxes, the only one at this table who has balanced budgets. … It’s not rhetoric,” he said. “It’s a real record.”

Though Heinrich and White had faced off in August, Wednesday’s debate marked their first public battle since then. Neither made any major mistakes, a la Democratic nominee Patricia Madrid in 2006, and both stuck largely to the same talking points voters have seen in ads.

But their chance to sway undecided voters — and many still are undecided, according to recent polls — is quickly winding down, which suggests that their next three meetings could get rougher. Televised debates are tonight (7 p.m. on Channel 5) and Sunday (4 p.m. on Channel 7), with another at 9:30 a.m. Sunday at Congregation Albert, 3800 Louisiana Blvd. N.E.

Women for Obama watch the final presidential debate.

At a party of Democratic women gathered to watch the debate last night in Albuquerque there was one thing on everyone’s mind: the economy. But when it was all over this partisan group had learned no love for McCain. There was nothing he said about taxes, jobs or the economy that earned him cheers; it wasn’t surprising they didn’t like his defense of running mate Sarah Palin’s angry crowds or his defense of taxing health care benefits. But it was what they perceived as his insensitivity on the subject of abortion that angered these voters most.

Local female Democratic luminaries, including Rep. Tom Udall’s wife, Jill Cooper, City Councilor Debbie O’Malley and Bernalillo County Commissioner Deanna Archuleta-Loeser stopped by the Women for Obama event, which was kicked off by a visit and short speech by Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. The governor received loud applause when she told the group that Obama would fight to help small businesses, ensure equal pay for equal work and protect family planning and the freedom of choice.

Gov. Napolitano attended several Obama events in N.M. Wednesday.

Napolitano, who was born in Albuquerque, got a big laugh when she promised she would stay positive, then said, “John McCain said not too long ago that he doesn’t understand too much about the American economy and I am positive that he’s telling the truth about that!”

When asked before the debate what issues concerned them most, abortion wasn’t even mentioned. Three debate watchers each listed the economy, two talked about jobs and one also listed education.

“I have done very well in my life and thought that I had my future secure. Now I worry,” said Jane Bradley, a native Santa Fean of retirement age. “I never worried about money in my entire life and now I’m concerned. Will the money last? Will health care last for people like me?”

Her mother, grandmother and 42-year-old daughter all died of breast cancer, she said, and as a result she is uninsurable. “There are hundreds of thousands of women who worked hard and did well and now, for the first time in our adult lives, we’re concerned about things that we thought were a given.” Those things being economic security, the potential for a good job and public education.

Betty Rein, the retired mother of the hostess, said she wasn’t very political and hadn’t been following too closely, but said she was anxious about the economy and housing. “We just sold our house, but I’m worried for my children and my grandchildren,” she said.

Betty Baca, her long gray hair pinned up in the back, complained that the campaign had gotten “pretty nasty” lately, but that she was concerned with — yes, the economy — and jobs. She was at the party because she wanted her support for Obama to be “confirmed” by his performance at the debate.

For the first part of the debate they watched quietly, munching on chips and cookies, but things got lively when moderator Bob Schieffer asked both candidates, “Why would the country be better off if your running mate became president rather than his running mate?” Clapping through the question, they were eager to hear the Republican defend his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whom they clearly disliked. They were not at all satisfied by what he said, yelling “Come on!” “Oh yeah?” and “What about the economy?”

The wall-to-wall carpeted living room, stuffed with four plush couches and two big TVs, was never quieter than when Obama described meeting two Toledo women who had just been laid off and were struggling with health insurance. The women paid attention to detail, too. When Obama said the average cost of a health care plan was $12,000 one shouted, “If you’re healthy!” And when McCain suggested that the average cost was far less, around $5,000, they didn’t agree. “What?” and “Where can I get that?”

And then Schieffer brought up Roe v. Wade. “Ooooohhhhhhh!” they drawled ominously. Obama said he thought it was the right decision: they clapped with relief, “Yesss!” And then he brought up Lilly Ledbetter. “Yes!!!” He had them at Roe v. Wade. He didn’t even need to say he wanted to prevent unwanted pregnancy. That was just the frosting on the cake.

McCain’s attempt to slam Obama on abortion was a disaster in this room. They were livid about the way he seemed to dismiss the need for protection of the life of the mother when it comes to laws against late-term abortion. (In fact, watching CNN’s “audience reaction meter” of uncommitted Ohio voters, you could see those women’s approval of McCain dropped into the basement when he put air quotes around “health” of the mother.)

When the debate was over, Baca said she heard what she needed to hear. “His points were really clear and I think he explained the health care policy very well. … McCain was confused and really not sure where he stands,” she said.

Rein complained that McCain didn’t answer the questions he was asked. “I tune him out after a while,” she said. “If I were undecided he would not have won me over.”

Of course, nobody at this party was undecided. But they were eager to explain why McCain wouldn’t earn their votes. “He frankly didn’t make a lot of sense,” Bradley said.

Several women said they were annoyed by the way McCain smirked and laughed inappropriately. “None of this was funny to any of us,” Bradley said. More important, McCain’s mentions of Sarah Palin’s special-needs son fell flat.

“My son took his own life because of schizophrenia and I had child who died at 11 months of a brain disorder. Would a mother like me bring those children and their issues into a public debate to win?” she asked. “I think it’s inappropreate and offensive.”

Of late, the fact-checkers have been as busy as a spin doctor putting truth to the powers-that-might-be — i.e., John McCain and Barack Obama. Big sympathies to all those out there who’ve picked a candidate and think he’s a champ, but reality proves, time and again, they lie. Both of them. A lot.

Though partisans might consider their indiscretions merely misleading, or a simple stretch, or yet another attack by the liberal elite or the neocon right, the wary voter deserves to carry some basic understandings into the polls. Here’s a brief primer on the most-oft-told fibs of Campaign ’08 (and the drinking challenge for each successive utterance):

McCain: Obama will raise your taxes. (Sip of Average Joe Six-pack beer)

Over and over, McCain and running mate Sarah Palin have trotted out battle-weary Republican bromides, including claims that Obama has voted to raise taxes on families earning as little as $32,000 a year, has voted for higher taxes 94 times and will raise taxes for small-business owners.

According to Factcheck:

Obama’s tax plan … would raise rates (including capital gains and dividend rates) only for couples earning at least $250,000 per year, or singles earning $200,000 or more. Any investments held in Individual Retirement Accounts, 401(k) plans or other tax-deferred retirement accounts would remain just that, tax-deferred. Nor would Obama’s plans affect 23 million small-business owners; most, in fact, would see a tax cut. At most, a few hundred thousand of the most affluent business owners would see rates go up. And those 94 votes for “higher” taxes? We count 23 that would not have raised taxes at all, but were merely votes against tax cuts. Seven of them would have lowered taxes for many. As for Obama’s actual plan: The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center says that 81.3 percent of all American workers and families would see a tax cut.

Obama: McCain will cut Social Security (Shot of Metamucil)

Scary, huh? Especially if your 401(k) and pension plan just went the way of a $700 billion bailout. Obama uses this one to catch the ears of that senior voting bloc that might otherwise see a kindred spirit in McCain.

According to Factcheck:

McCain did support Bush’s Social Security plan. But that plan would not have cut benefits at all. Everybody who gets a check now, or who is nearing retirement, would have remained in the current system. For younger workers who retire in the future, Bush proposed to slow the rate at which benefits grow — keeping pace with the rise of prices but not with the faster rise in wages, as is now the case. Compared with what today’s retirees get, that’s a smaller increase, not a reduction.

McCain: Sarah Palin opposed the “Bridge to Nowhere,” thanks but no thanks (Gargle with saltwater)

Both McCain and Palin trumpet this supposed opposition as a sign of the Chosen One’s political independence.

According to Factcheck:

Palin supported the Gravina Access Project (the formal name of the Bridge to Nowhere) during her run for governor, even as McCain was denouncing it repeatedly as pork-barrel spending. When she finally changed her position in 2007, it was only after Congress had removed the earmark. She complained at the time that there was too little money for the bridge and griped about “inaccurate portrayals.” She didn’t say who was making these portrayals, but the portrayer-in-chief was, well, you know who. As for saying “no thanks,” Palin still received all of the funds originally earmarked for building the bridge but was free to spend them as she wished.

Obama: McCain wants to fight a 100-year war in Iraq. (Shot of foxhole hooch)

Both Obama and the Democratic National Committee have clung to this potential budget-buster. Not to mention life- and limb-buster.

While McCain has mentioned keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years, according to Factcheck:

McCain is referring to a peacetime presence in Iraq, as the full context of McCain’s remarks makes clear. Here’s what McCain actually said, in a Jan. 3 town hall meeting:

Maybe a hundred. … We’ve been in Japan for 60 years. We’ve been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That would be fine with me, as long as Americans, as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed. It’s fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world.”

McCain: Obama lied about his association with so-called terrorist William Ayers. (Dram of hemlock)

McCain in an Internet ad and Palin on the stump have made hay over Obama’s supposed ties to Ayers’ long-gone history with the Weather Underground. Back then, Obama was in second grade and not exactly “palling around” with dissidents stronger than the anti-beanie-weenies cafeteria crowd.

According to Factcheck:

… (S)o far as is known, their (Obama’s and Ayers’) relationship was never very close. An Obama spokesman says they last saw each other in a chance encounter on the street more than a year ago.

McCain says in an Internet ad that the two “ran a radical ‘education’ foundation” in Chicago. But the supposedly “radical” group was supported by a Republican governor and included on its board prominent local civic leaders, including one former Nixon administration official who has given $1,500 to McCain’s campaign this year. Education Week says the group’s work “reflected mainstream thinking” among school reformers. The group was the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, started by a $49 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation, which was established by the publisher Walter Annenberg, a prominent Republican whose widow, Leonore, is a contributor to the McCain campaign.

Obama: McCain opposes stem-cell research. (Two gulps of a Virgin Bloody Mary)

Obama and running mate Joe Biden have chastised McCain in radio ads for opposing the embryonic stem-cell research that even former first lady Nancy Reagan supports.

According to Factcheck:

McCain has been known for supporting federally funded stem cell research since 2001 …

In 2004, McCain was one of 14 GOP members of Congress who signed a letter to Bush asking him to lift restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, citing its potential to lead to treatments or cures for deadly and crippling diseases and conditions. In 2006, he was one of 19 Republicans to vote for federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, a bill that Bush vetoed. The bill allowed use only of embryos that were frozen or slated for destruction anyway by fertility clinics. There was a similar vote in 2007, in which McCain voted the same way.

McCain and Obama: He’ll ruin health care. (Three aspirins and a bottle of cold, clear water)

The pretzel-twists of accusations each candidate has hurled at the other regarding your future ability to get a check-up earned a special posting all on its own from Factcheck. The down-and-dirty bottom line from experts is that Obama’s plan covers more people, but there’s little agreement on whose plan would cost more and whether either would do much at all to reduce the uninsured rolls.

Say you’ve been following “Project Runway” all season long. Say you’ve also been following the greatest reality drama of them all: the presidential election. On Wednesday you’re faced with a tough choice, because the “Project Runway” season finale and the last John McCain/Barack Obama debate are going head-to-head at 8 p.m.

Start on the debate. The first questions will set the tone, and you know the beginning of “Project Runway” will be a whole lot of “Oh, I’m so excited to be showing at Bryant Park!” “Now they’re gonna see what I’m all about!” “I’m gonna rock their worlds!”

When you hear the words “middle class” and “tax cut” in the same sentence, switch to “Project Runway.”

When Kenley laughs, switch to the debate.

When Obama says, “Four more years of George Bush,” switch to “Project Runway.”

When “Project Runway” goes to commercials, switch to the debate…

Read the whole, hilarious thing here.