Saturday, March 13, 2010Martinez Scores Blowout Win at NM GOP Preprimary; Weh Second: Only Two Of Five Candidates Get 20% For Official Ballot Spot, Plus: Other Results
Martinez
 Dona Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez out organized her competitors and scored an upset victory at Saturday's GOP preprimary convention, garnering nearly half the vote in a five way race. Martinez's showing beat expectations and catapults here to the front of the pack, with the big question now whether this out sized victory will translate into the funds she will need to compete in the June 1st primary. Second place finisher Allen Weh has the personal funds to go the distance and Pete Domenici has the name ID to stay in until the end. Martinez, 46.65%, Allen Weh 26.32%, Janice Arnold-Jones 13.16%, Doug Turner 9.23%, Pete Domenici 4.61. And the raw vote total among the 400 plus delegates: Martinez--202 votes; Weh: 114 Arnold-Jones: 57; Turner: 40; Domenici Jr.: 20 Only Allen Weh joined Martinez in getting at least 20 percent of the delegate support to get an automatic spot on the June 1st primary ballot. The other candidates can submit additional petition signatures to get a place on the ballot, but the failure to reach the 20% threshold often spells the end for a candidate. No one has ever won a NM primary election if they failed to reach the 20 percent mark at the preprimary. Pete Domenici, Jr., the leader in the early polling, scored less than five percent of the delegates. He has said previously he would stay in the contest regardless of the preprimary results, arguing his candidacy was late-starting and aimed at the broader party. Turner and Arnold-Jones are saying they will stay in, but are likely to reassess their candidacies. Fund-raising will be their primary concern after their weak preprimary showings. MORE GOP RESULTS For lieutenant governor: Brian Moore 41.24%, Kent Cravens 27.64%, John Sanchez 22.81%; J.R. Damron 8.29%. For land commissioner: Matt Rush 64.87%, Jim Jackson 18.03%, Spiro Vassilopoulos 13.34%, Bob Cornelius 3.74% For the southern congressional seat: Steve Pearce – 92 percent; Cliff Pirtle – 8 percent. For the Northern congressional seat: Tom Mullins – 80.5 percent; Adam Kokesh--19.5 percent. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009 Not for reproduction without permission of the author |
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