11.29.07.Races heat up

The SCORE
The Sandoval County Online Reporting Enterprise
Rio Rancho, N.M.
New Mexico's first totally online commuity newspaper was last updatedTuesday, March 20, 2012 at 8 p.m.

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Udall, Carraro make it official

Congressman makes it 3 Democrats after Domenici's seat;
Senator will challenge White, won't seek reelection to state job

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

The doors that were blocking the trickle up schematic of New Mexico politics flew wide open on Thursday.

Democratic congressman Tom Udall, who represents most of Sandoval County, formally announced he will give up his seat in the Third District to run for the U.S. Senate position held by Pete Domenici for the past 35 years. And Joe Carraro, who represents part of Rio Rancho in the New Mexico Senate, formally announced his candidacy for the First Congressional District.

Both will face popular figures from Albuquerque – Udall will clash with Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez and Santa Fe publisher Leland Lehrman. A fourth Democrat, Jim Hannan, dropped out of the race and endorsed Udall.

Carraro, meanwhile, will take on Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White.

The Udall-Chavez-Lehrman winner will meet one of two Republicans currently in Congress, either Heather Wilson or Steve Pearce. Carraro or White will take on Albuquerque City Councilor Martin Heinrich, former state health secretary Michelle Lujan-Grisham or high school teacher Jason Call. A fourth candidate, attorney Jon Adams, told the Sandoval County Democratic Club earlier this month that he was running for Congress, but he was unsure if it would be in the First or Third District.

In addition to Adams, state corporation commissioner Ben Lujan and a representative for Santa Fe County Commissioner Harry Montoya told the Democratic Club they were waiting for Udall to make it official before announcing their plans to run for his seat.

And the scramble to move up doesn’t stop there. Tom Anderson, who is currently the District 29 representative in the New Mexico House of Representatives, has said he would be interested in Carraro’s state senate seat if it came open. And David Pyne, vice president of the mountain west reason of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, has said he would run for either the state senate or state house seat, depending on what Anderson decided.

Anderson was in Arizona on business and did not return phone calls seeking comment, while Pyne was at Carraro’s announcement and heard the words he wanted to hear – that Carraro would not try to retain his Senate seat while running for Congress.

Speaking to the media before his official announcement, Carraro said, “I’m running for Congress. It’s unfortunate that I have to give up my state senate seat. I’d like to do both, but I can’t.

“We have some problems. We need to rebuild America. We have to make some changes in Congress. Somebody’s got to do it. All I’m asking is: Who can do it? Who has the experience? Who has the knowledge of the issues? Who has the mental toughness?

.”We need somebody who is going to go in there and has the confidence and say, ‘I can change things in Congress.’ I’m not going to be somebody who goes there and waits for things to happen. That’s what Congress is doing right now – waiting for something to happen. I’m going to go up there and try to make it happen.

“People say, ‘You’re a state senator.’ Well, Barack Obama was a state senator for six years. I’ve been a state senator for 20 years. I’m not running for president; I’m just running for Congress.”

Carraro acknowledged that because White has been involved in working for the party on other campaigns, most notably co-chairing George Bush’s presidential reelection bid in New Mexico in 2004, that he is probably considered an outsider and even a long shot.

“Political parties are overdone. The people need to take control again,” Carraro said. “The leadership in political parties tells you who is going to run for office and they tell you how to vote. After you get in office they’re telling congressmen how to vote. That’s got to stop. We’ve got to stop that. We’ve got to have somebody go up there and say, ‘This is the way the people want us to vote’ and not be afraid to vote.

Carraro said he is a better candidate that White because, “I have experience. I have knowledge of issues and 20 years in the state senate. I’m a policy person. I’ve actually voted. I’ve actually made legislation. He’s run for the state legislature and hasn’t won. I think it is important that people use the state legislature as a training ground and understand what it’s like to have to vote for legislation, to pass legislation. Also, to understand the issues – what an education I’ve had.”

Carraro, who has been unsuccessful in previous bids for Lt. Governor and the U.S. Senate, said he is more comfortable running for the congressional seat.

“This is my home, Albuquerque,” he said. “Running state wide is a tough race. And when you have a state party that kind of favors one candidate over another, it’s tough.

“This is – the people are going to decide, the people of the First Congressional District. Not just Republicans, but Republicans, Democrats and independents. A key issue is electability – who’s going to be able to go ahead against a Democrat and win.

“I’ve never lost a general election. But clearly I’ve got to win a primary to get there. A lot of Democrats and Republicans are going to vote for me. If I get elected to this seat, I think I can keep this seat as long as I wanted to because I’m going to work really hard when I get in there and people know that.”

The only candidate from this group who has made a formal campaign stop in Sandoval County is Pearce, who spoke at a county Republican Party luncheon on Thursday. Details on that visit will be posted later today.