Kilmer
It doesn't get worse than this for Hollywood actor and possible 2010 Dem NM Guv nominee-. The gossip columns say he is no longer "hot" and are even running a series of photos---like the one posted here--to make their point. Says the X17 site: "

Val Kilmer used to be hot...these days...not so much.

Looks like it will have to be the health spa first and the campaign trail second for Val.

SHRINKING HORATIO

No one knows better the struggle to shed pounds in preparation for the bright lights of La Politica than Big Bill. His sometimes ample waistline even inspired Horatio Sanz, one of America's top comedic actors, to have some fun at the Guv's expense on Saturday Night Live. But Horatio may have bitten off more than he can chew, or maybe these days he's not biting off enough. Sanz has shrunk several belt sizes and star watchers wonder if his penchant for imitating Bill has gone with his girth. Will Sanz ever be able to imitate Richardson again?

DENZEL DAZZLES ROSWELL

And yet more movie star stuff. Here's a cool pic from the Roswell Daily Record showing actor Denzel Washington handing out $50,000 to keep the Roswell Boys and Girls Club up and running in the SE NM city. The club was running out of funding.

See, Val. You don't have to be Governor to help out the state. You can just get that healthy checkbook out. But if you insist on running, how about Denzel as Lt. Governor? That guy's got style...

Archuleta & Brasher
If all the cards were to fall into place we might have to rename the Bernalillo County Commission the Big Bill Commission. That's because the seats of three members of the five member panel are in political play. We won't know for sure what will happen until the October 6th city election, but here's the scenario that has has them chattering downtown.

Dem Commissioner Alan Armijo has announced he will try to get back on the ABQ City Council by challenging incumbent Ike Benton; GOP County Commissioner Michael Brasher broke the news to us this week that he is very likely to seek the far NE Heights council seat held by Republican Don Harris and which Brasher held before going on the commission; Dem County Commissioner Deanna Archuleta, who served on the Obama transition team for the Department of Interior, is in line for a job at Interior which will have her leaving the commission. The exact position has not been announced, but we're told it would not require US Senate confirmation. Archuleta is also chair of the ABQ Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority Board so her departure would also cause a shift there.

If Brasher and Armijo were to win election to the council, they would leave the commission in December. Archuleta could get tapped for a DC job at any time. That's where Big Bill comes in. He gets to fill any vacancies created by this trio, all of whose terms run until the end of 2010. If all three were to go, we would get a commission majority appointed by the Guv.

But hold on. Insiders are not giving away these elections. They see Harris and Benton as formidable incumbents and say Armijo and Brasher will have their hands full.

As for Archuleta, insiders see ABQ School Board member and attorney Marty Esquivel as a possible replacement for her ABQ SE Heights seat. Tom Rutherford and Lenton Malry, who both represented the area on the commission in years past, are also interested, but Esquivel is a newer face without past political baggage that could give him the edge. Also, the seat is being vacated by a Hispanic and there will be pressure to name another to the vacancy. We have word that a behind-the-scenes struggle is already underway to stop Rutherford who has lobbying ties to Big Bill.

Archuleta is regional manager of the Wilderness Society who is serving her second four year term on the commission. The other two commissioners--who are staying put--are Republican Michael Wiener of the NE Heights and Art De La Cruz of the South Valley.

Armijo and Brasher have been in local government office since the 80's and are serving their second four year terms on the commission. By law they can't seek another. Will their long pasts be a plus or a minus in the coming campaigns? Whatever the case, political wannabe's are advised to polish up their resumes for Big Bill. The odds may be long that we will have a trifecta of three commissioners departing, but strange things have been known to happen at the racetrack of La Politica.

TRACKING THE PACK

What's the reaction of Hewlett-Packard now that the Legislature has trimmed from $12 million to $6 million the capital outlay money to help the computer giant build a Rio Rancho Customer Center?

"We understand the Legislature's decision. We remain committed to Rio Rancho and will continue to work with local and state officials to determine next steps," an HP spokesman said in an e-mail statement.

We thought the HP proposal would meet with resistance when we blogged the company had $10 billion in cash in the bank (now $11 billion) and the state's budget for construction projects had shrunk dramatically.

Rio Rancho Mayor Swisstack says he will continue to push for the other $6 million for HP, perhaps at a special session of the Legislature that may be called later thus year. But why? Well-off HP says it can live with the $6 million. Legislators from rural NM whose capital outlay has been crimped are sure also to wonder why.

HP has pledged to employ 1,350 people at the support center by 2013. Rio Rancho and the state have pledged more than $50 million in incentives. That's a lot of money for these jobs and will take years of payroll taxes to get back. The $6 million will go toward fixing up the interior of the 218,000-square-foot HP center.

JOB TRACKING

Reaction to our Wednesday blog quoting Dr. Lee Reynis, director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at UNM. She says the state's official unemployment rate is an "statistical artifact" and that the jobless rate is actually significantly higher than the current 5.4% rate being reported. Dr. Brent Eastwood, a political economist who works at ABQ's DW Turner, came with this:

Every month the Bureau of Labor Statistics tallies total non-farm payroll numbers. This is one of the best statistics we have to count employment. Remember this does not count the number of unemployed persons. This just counts the number of people who are on payroll. To get a clear picture, one must look at those seeking unemployment benefits as well.

From Feb. 08 to Feb. ’09, New Mexico had a net loss of 10,100 jobs. I compared New Mexico to a few other rural, low population states during the same time frame.

West Virginia lost 13,500 jobs; Wyoming gained 4,700 jobs; South Dakota lost 3,200 jobs; North Dakota gained 800 jobs;Vermont lost 12,700 jobs; New Hampshire lost 9,000 jobs; Nebraska lost 11,600 jobs; Iowa lost 22,400 jobs; Arkansas lost 28,200 jobs.

So if you look at this sample of small, rural states, New Mexico is about in the middle in terms of job losses for non-farm payroll over the last year. We have experienced some pain, but not as bad as others in our peer group.

We don't disagree with Dr. Eastwood, but we would like to look at this through a different lens. For the purposes of our discussion, how about if we completely exclude government employment from the labor pool, jobs that are not (currently) subject to layoffs and have actually been growing. That being done, what is the rate of job loss in our state's "private sector" compared to the private sectors of the state's Dr. Eastwood compared us to?

We don't know if our private sector is suffering the same, worse or less than others, but with the politicians telling us that things here are not as bad as elsewhere, we sure would like to know.

METHODS ARE MURKY

And the state Workforce Solutions Dept. came with this statement in response to the Reynis blog, indicating they agree with her:

The BLS methodology is designed to explain movements in the nation's unemployment numbers. The input is the data collected from the monthly Current Population Survey, which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...The model requires that the sum of all states must approximately equal the national number. Some inconsistencies occur, especially in states with smaller populations like New Mexico, since the monthly numbers are based upon survey data as opposed to a complete count. The BLS is aware of the concerns of states.. NMDWS economists believe the state's job market is hurting to an extent that is not yet fully reflected in the unemployment numbers...

In other words, more pain before we see any pleasure. But hey, "we're better off here than elsewhere." We're sure the unemployed thousands here are overjoyed to learn that someone in Phoenix is suffering more than them.

TO THE TUBE

KRQE-TV picked up on our Reynis blog, giving their viewers reports of the Reynis comments on the station's 5:30 and 10 p.m. news.

TRYING FOR A TURN AROUND

Huge gobs of federal money are coming into the state--on top of the usual mega-dose of federal funding. It's all aimed at jump-starting the economy out of recession, and no one knows if it will work. From the NM Congressional delegation:

...$512,362,810 in emergency education funding has been released for schools in New Mexico to help save education-related jobs and maintain programs for low-income students and students with disabilities. For example, New Mexico schools will immediately receive $80,803,396 in Title I funds and $97,451,822 in IDEA funds. Here is a complete list of funds for New Mexico.

AGE OF THE ALLIGATOR

The ABQ Journal continues to fret--this time on their Web site in a homemade video from columnist Leslie Linthicum--about your blog's use of anonymous sources--in other words--the Alligators. We wonder why they are so worried about it when for all these years the newspaper has taken this blog's anonymous sourcing and used it to produce dozens of news stories. That's what we call rock-solid sourcing. The Alligators, however, say they don't have bruised egos over not getting recognition. They're simply pleased to be able to improve the coverage and understanding of New Mexico politics for ABQ Journal subscribers.

However, the Alligators don't understand why the dead-tree editors refuse to mention in their printed editons that the Gators can be found at www.joemonahan.com. Its been noted by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Roll Call, Congressional Quarterly, the BBC, PBS NewsHour, the Santa Fe New Mexican, Santa Fe Reporter, Real Clear Politics, National Public Radio, NM Independent, the Alibi, KOB-TV, KRQE-TV, KASA-TV, KOB Radio, KSFR-FM Radio, C-SPAN, Voice of America and the Las Cruces Sun-News, among many others. Don't Leslie and her editors at Journal Center read or listen to that stuff?

Reporting to you from Albuquerque, New Mexico, I'm Joe Monahan. E-mail your news, comments and other grist for the mill.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009
Not for reproduction without permission of the author

Dr. Lee Reynis
One of the state's top economists is boldly knocking down the Sunshine Crowd, revealing in detail why the New Mexico unemployment rate is actually much higher than the reported numbers. After spotting a snippet buried deep in a newspaper article that said she was questioning the state figures but did not explain why, we asked Dr. Lee Reynis, longtime director of the University of New Mexico's Institute of Applied Research Services and the Bureau of Business and Economic Research, to explain her stance. Her response is a real eye-opener for the politicos who argue "it is not as bad here as elsewhere" and for the NM media as it goes about reporting the latest business news.

Historically, NM's rate of unemployment has been significantly higher than the US average, although it was occasionally and usually briefly, as in the aftermath of the 90-91 recession, at or slightly below the US. The Bureau of Labor Statistics made a change in methodology sometime around 2005 forcing us to conform to a regional control total and, since around 2007, has been requiring that the NM Dept. of Workforce Solutions use their control totals. With these changes, NM's rates have been extremely low.

Today the US unemployment rate is 8.1% versus NM's rate of 5.4%. We believe that the low New Mexico unemployment rate is a statistical artifact. As corroborating evidence, look at the rate of unemployment claims (compared) to the number counted as unemployed. Today (the claims) are much, much higher than in the past.

No one really noticed the change in how we tote up the jobless rate until now because the economy was booming three years ago. In fact, we recall commenting a while back how it was gratifying to see single digit unemployment rates in some of the northern counties that for decades have had double digit rates. Looks like we weren't getting the full story.

In a September 28th ABQ Journal piece, Dr. Reynis questioned the state jobless count because it excluded people who are no longer looking for work and skews the rate downward, but now she has gone deeper, raising a significant public policy issue.

GETTING REAL

If Reynis is right--which seems to be the case since state labor officials have opted not to comment on her stance--state policy makers, the NM Congressional delegation and Legislature are not getting the full picture.

A question the media may want to explore: Can the state Workforce Solutions Department give us the true rate of unemployment by not using the methodology that Reynis says is skewing the numbers? Give us two sets of numbers, if they must?

For our Congressional delegation: Does an erroneous reported lower unemployment rate effect the federal assistance we are eligible to receive to alleviate the impact of lost jobs? If so, what should we do about it?

For policy makers: If you don't know the extent of the problem, how can you get to the solution? Should we be focusing on weekly jobless claims at the state level, and not the "seasonally adjusted unemployment rate" to give us the real picture of where we stand?

All of us know this downturn has a different feel to it than past recessions. We hear of friends and neighbors being laid off or moving on, of some of our favorite corner stores closing up or cutting back hours. We know about the mass layoffs at Eclipse, Intel and in the copper mines of Grant County. And we see the huge declines in tax collections that are now threatening even those sacrosanct government jobs. And we know the bear market in oil and gas prices is costing the state not only millions in revenue, but lost jobs in those industries.

The Reynis analysis pokes a hole in the Polyannish economic scenarios that hold sway over the public dialogue in New Mexico, no matter the current trend. Because we depend (and enjoy) the bevy of government jobs that are the backbone of the state's economy, what is happening in the "real" economy seems to get downplayed or, as we noted earlier, dismissed with a wave of the hand that things here are better than in Outer Mongolia, so enjoy your enchiladas and don't worry.

New Mexico policy makers need a new paradigm to build a diversified economy (not just government jobs and energy revenues), but first they need the truth. By stripping bare "a statistical artifact" Reynis is showing the way.

THOSE GOVERNMENT JOBS

If government starts laying off workers or instituting furloughs, it is going to shell-shock this state where those jobs have nearly always been a pocket of safety. From the city of Santa Fe comes word that this Holy Grail may soon be defiled:

Budget balancing actions involving city employees are still being negotiated with unions, city manager Galen Buller and finance director David Millican said. Possible actions on that front include pay reductions, reduced work schedules and furloughs.

In early March, ABQ City Council budget chair Ken Sanchez warned of a deficit of $40 million for the budget year starting July 1st. You can bet that Mayor Chavez--up for re-election in October--is going to go all out to avoid laying off employees--at least until after the Oct. 6 election. (Chavez sends his proposed budget to the City Council today. It calls for not filling vacant position and cutting construction projects, but no layoffs).

MORE ECON BEAT

The Wall Street Journal takes note this week of the sky-high compensation going on at the University of New Mexico and one of the reasons UNM President Schmidly was given a vote of no-confidence by the faculty.

A recent university report showed budgeted salaries -- excluding other perks -- for senior executives increased 71% to more than $9.8 million between 2002 and 2008. (Mr. Schmidly took the reins in 2007.)

The paper's take on UNM came in a report that began:

The furor over big bonuses at American International Group Inc. and other Wall Street firms is prompting nonprofit organizations to brace for more scrutiny of their executive pay practices.

And now layoffs at UNM Press

THE BOTTOM LINES

Jim Baca was mayor of ABQ from 1997 to 2001. We had it as four years earlier in our early draft....GOP mayoral hopeful RJ Berry offically qualified for public financing Tuesday. Berry, Mayor Chavez and Dem Richard Romero will receive $328,000 for their campaigns this Friday. We covered the mayor's race extensively on the Tuesday blog.

Jay Leno: "According to the government, GM's Rick Wagoner was forced to resign because of poor performance. That's embarrassing." You run "an organization that loses billions of dollars and then get fired by a guy who heads up an organization that loses trillions of dollars."

E-mail your news and comments.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009
Not for reproduction without permission of the author

Chavez, Romero & Berry
Today is a landmark day for the 2009 ABQ mayoral election. When it's over we should have three candidates qualifying for public financing and the race will be engaged--a six month run to the October 6 election.

The City Clerk reported Monday that GOP State Rep. RJ Berry submitted additional five dollar donations to qualify for $328,000 in public financing, bringing his total to 4,793, well over the 3,287 donations needed to make the grade. He did so with a major push financed by the Bernalillo County Republican Party. The clerk is expected to announce shortly that Berry has qualified for public money. Meanwhile, former ABQ Dem State Sen. Richard Romero told supporters Monday he has been certified for the public money after turning in 4,615 donations. Mayor Chavez weeks ago turned in over 5,000 donations as well as the over 6,500 petition signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. Berry and Romero will now focus on those petitions which are due April 28th. Today was the deadline to qualify for public financing.

My city political experts don't expect any other candidates to qualify for the ballot. They say to get 6,500 valid signatures a candidate will have to gather as many as 8,000, if not more. and they see only the big three candidates easily doing that. Developer Rob Dickson could be the long-shot to watch.. Although liberal-leaning, as an Anglo candidate Dickson could help Chavez by peeling some NE Heights votes away from Berry. Dickson declined to pursue public financing and would likely use personal funds to finance a run if he makes the ballot. But Dickson is going to have to spend some of that development dough to make a play. According to his campaign, he has compiled just 386 signatures. That's as depressing as the real estate market Rob is dealing with.

STILL FRAMING THE RACE

City Hall watchers are now framing the race this way: Chavez is positioned to get 40% of the vote and avoid a run-off election. However, they see the fly in the ointment as Rep. Berry, but do not see him as the strongest Chavez challenger. They see Berry in the role of spoiler, peeling conservative and Republican votes away from Chavez and boosting Romero, giving him a chance to hold Marty below the magic 40% and forcing a run-off election.

Naturally, the Berry camp and the R's disagree with that analysis saying Berry can consolidate conservative and Anglo votes and force the run-off between him and Chavez, leaving Romero in the dust.

Celebrating his qualifying for the public financing, Romero referenced the grass-roots strategy that he thinks will surprise Chavez:

“Our Campaign for Change has been embraced by the voters as we’ve now surpassed our first major milestone--thanks to a army of fantastic volunteers. Day after day, our grassroots momentum has been building – and it will continue to build.

Romero is leaning heavily on organizers who helped put the Obama campaign over the top. The idea is to motivate voters who don't normally cast ballots in city elections and are likely to be
unfriendly towards the mostly centrist, but sometimes conservative Chavez.

BACA'S EARLY ANALYSIS
Jim Baca
Former ABQ Mayor Jim Baca ('97-'01), a liberal Dem, is waving yellow flags at the Chavez challengers and echoing sentiment being heard around the city in the early stages of this contest.

...Not one of the candidates so far has given us the "Big Picture" of what our city would be like after four years of the next administration. What is the overarching goal? Will everyone, as usual, fall back on crime reduction as the major issue? Or will someone just lay out for us their vision for a better city?The Mayor has not done so. Richard Romero has not done so. The Republican candidate seems to be running on one issue only, and that is that he is a Republican."

As the incumbent, Chavez is under less pressure to paint that "big picture," falling back on the job he has done for three terms, but Baca's analysis is especially relevant for Romero and Berry. Most voters we hear from seem to think the city is in pretty good shape and while Chavez is not a loved personalty, he is respected. What is, as former Mayor Baca put it "the overarching goal" of the challengers? Not being Marty Chavez will attract some votes, but elections are ultimately about ideas. Do the challengers have any? Albuquerque awaits the answer.

DC ROUNDUP

Like bears ending their hibernation, political hopefuls for the 2010 cycle are starting to emerge now that the Legislature's time in the spotlight has expired. One of the first to awaken from their slumber is a familiar face--former State Land Commissioner Ray Powell. He tells us his 2006 Dem primary defeat hasn't dissuaded him from a life in politics and he will again seek the Dem nomination in 2010. Powell did not make a formal announcement but answered in the affirmative when we rang him up and wondered aloud if the land commissioner post was on his radar.

The veterinarian, soon to turn 59, served ten years in the position ('93--2003) which has garnered a fair share of attention during the reign of current GOP Land Commissioner Pat Lyons. Powell of ABQ's North Valley now toils on behalf of the Jane Goodall Institute which specializes in wildlife research, education and conservation, but is ready to venture into the wilds of La Politica:

I have met amazing people from all over the globe. Many are the world's experts in land management, wildlife science, economic development, water, public health and many others...I aspire to use these relationships and ideas to create new opportunities on trust land in New Mexico. ..I see no reason why we can't lead the world in innovative and restorative practices...

Powell's attempt to reclaim the land slot faltered in 2006 when he ran against a fellow former commissioner, Jim Baca. The race broke along classic Dem Party primary lines--with Powell losing because he could not command enough of the Hispanic vote. Baca's nomination, however, proved too controversial and led to the re-election of Lyons, the only R outside of the judiciary to now hold a statewide political office. Lyons is term-limited and is widely expected to seek a southern seat on the Public Regulation Commission in 2010. Current PRC Commissioner David King is seen as a possible GOP land commission contender.

Primary history could repeat in 2010 as it appears Powell's main challenge will come from Santa Fe County Commissioner Mike Anaya, 44, a well-liked rancher and electrical contractor who has been quietly lining up support for more than a year. Will other candidates join the Dem fray? If not, Powell will face another race in which ethnic politics could play a dominant role.

DI'S DAYS
Chair Montoya & Di
Light Guv Diane Denish long ago formally announced she will seek the Dem nod for Guv in 2010, and so far she is the only official candidate. She was working to strengthen her position over the weekend, attending the Sandoval County Democratic Party convention at which David Montoya, a former aide to Senator Jeff Bingaman and now head of the defense firm Manzano Strategies, captured the county chairmanship. Sandoval is an important Dem county, but perhaps more so in the general election when R's and Independents give it a reputation for being a key swing area.

Potential Di Guv opponent Val Kilmer popped back in the news last week when we broke the story that he apparently has commissioned a poll. No one outside of his circle can be certain it was him, but Di says it wasn't her and who else cares to spend $30,000 or so to test the actor's negatives? The New Mexican hit with more details and we commented for KOB-TV's coverage.

BILL BOTTOMING?

For incumbent Guv Bill Richardson the campaigning days are over and that may be for the best. The latest SurveyUSA poll conducted this month for KOB-TV shows Bill garnering approval from just 42% of the electorate with 54% disapproving. His good news is that he appears to have bottomed out. The February survey showed 41% approved of the Guv's job performance.

Bill will poll better with likely voters who pay more attention to the news, but there is no denying that he and many other incumbents are getting tainted by the poor economy and climbing jobless rate. Even popular Dem Senator Bingaman now polls positive at 56%, a far cry from the low 60's that he has traditionally put on the board. For Bill, the pay-to-play allegations being investigated by a federal grand jury, the presidential campaign that took him out of state last year and the aforementioned economic recession would seem the main culprits in the precipitous decline from his glory days. Also, he is now past the mid-point in his second four year term. That is traditionally a soft spot for incumbent politicians.

Richardson may be weaker, but he is not impotent. Even a less muscular Bill is still the state's premier player. He has a stack of legislation on his desk from the recent legislative session that he can either sign or veto, reminding all of the institutional power of the chief executive regardless of what the latest polls report. But the days of wine and roses are over for this governorship. Today it is more like bottled water and cactus flowers.

BILL'S COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Those most closely associated with Bill also seem more vulnerable. Take, for example, NM House Speaker Ben Lujan who has taken criticism for being too obsequious towards the Fourth Floor. Observers note that Lujan was frustrated this session as a myriad of major proposals he backed went down in flames. There was that hyper-controversial amendment he sponsored that was spiked by Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith; the refusal of lawmakers to put up money to save the College of Santa Fe, the Speaker's Alma Mater; the death of the Lujan-backed measure that would have appropriated special funding for the Santa Fe opera, and last, but certainly not least, the failure of the TIDD proposal for land development giant SunCal. Here's a report from one of our Roundhouse watchers, a Dem with 10 years of wall-leaning under his belt:

The Senate showed no deference at all to the Speaker. Senate committee chairs had him sitting in committee to be heard like any other House member, and repeatedly tabled his bills. In past sessions the Senators would show deference to his workload by hearing his bills before any other House member sitting in a committee. No more.

To make matters worse, the Daily Trumpeter hit with a piece Sunday questioning whether there were any state strings pulled to try to keep in place a northern NM billboard that Lujan owns. This on the heels of Lujan's rant that Chairman Smith was a "racist."

The Speaker's session was also marked, some observers say, by a more rebellious Democratic freshman class. Lujan and Richardson have also had to contend with an empty state treasury for the first time since either of them claimed power. In these circumstances it is the more conservative State Senate that has filled the power vacuum to the detriment of Ben and Bill who are expert spenders and horse traders, but not attuned to the fine art of butchering
a budget.

CAMPAIGN CAPS

We want to run this item gain for those who did not catch it the first time. We were getting conflicting info on whether the new state campaign contribution cap law that takes effect in 2011 would be adjusted for inflation in future years. Apparently the answer is yes:

Attached is a copy of the House Judiciary Committee report on the campaign finance bill According to this, contributions are indexed to inflation, but the Secretary of State is supposed to put out what the new limits are on October 1st of an election year and the new limits go into effect the day after the General Election in that year. The final bill is not available online yet, so hard to be positive that the report is correct and indexing got into the final bill, but it looks like it may have...

The new contribution limits that take effect after the 2010 election are $2300 for legislative candidates and $5000 for statewide candidates.

THE BOTTOM LINES

We have some reports for you from those Dem Party county meetings around the state Saturday. First, from Big Bernalillo County, our correspondents on the scene report:

Estimated attendance was 300-400. Here's who was elected and other news:

* County Chair - Ana Canales (re-elected) * First Vice Chair - Victor Raigoza * Second Vice Chair - Pamela Herndon * Brian Colon announced his candidacy for re-election as state chairman * Diane Denish is off and running for Governor (as if we didn’t know that already) * US Rep. Martin Heinrich sent two letters to be read aloud, one speaker stated that Heinrich is expecting a serious challenger in ‘10 * Elected 72 males and 72 females to State Central Committee ( Pretty standard convention. No big news.

We'd like to know who Martin believes will launch a serious challenge to him next year. So far, no major R's have made much noise about wanting to take on the freshman lawmaker.

From Taos County, it turns out that a threatened challenge to incumbent county chair Chuby Tafoya never materialized. Tammi Jaramillo did not make the run. Our Gal Saturday says:

Chuby won by acclamation. Jaramillo was present but did not run for chair or vice chair. She was nominated for state central and lost coming in last. About 75 showed for the Taos meeting.

From Colfax County and Raton blog reader Preciliano who checks in on the Saturday Dem session there:

Jesse J. Johnson is the new party chair in Colfax County and the former chair, Jenny Garcia, is the new vice chair. A very orderly meeting.... The state party had someone in attendance to make sure the Dems were doing things on the up and up. Jesse is mayor pro tem here. A total change in leadership of the party here...Lots of Regan Democrats in Colfax County. Let's see if Jesse can change the trend of Democrats switching and/or voting GOP in the high plains.

We heard there may have been something worth mentioning from the Chaves Dem Party Saturday meeting. If so and one of our readers has the lowdown, send it along and we'll pass it along.

From the High Plains to Little Texas to the Rio Grande Valley, we've got this wonderful land covered. This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009
Not for reproduction without permission of the author