No doubt it will be a couple of "barnberners" from Bernie as he sets down in New Mexico Friday afternoon for two rallies that will put the state front and center in Campaign '16, if only for a couple of hours.

Senator Sanders, who has electrified Democratic youth from coast-to-coast but not so much the old folks, will first appear at a 1 p.m. rally at Santa Fe Community College. Info here. At 7 p.m. he'll take his fiery Democratic socialist campaign to the downtown ABQ Convention Center. Info here. The NM Facebook page for Sanders is here.

It's easy to predict that both events will be jammed to the rafters, although the Santa Fe attendance is capped at 2,500. What is more unclear is whether the voting booths will be jammed with Bernie supporters come primary election day June 7th.

Internal campaign polling conducted around May 1 and that crossed our desk surprised us. It showed Sanders trailing Hillary Clinton in very liberal Santa Fe County as well as Bernalillo County. She was in the high 50's there and he was in the low 30's. His long talked about weakness with Hispanics is apparently the cause. She gets 64% Hispanic support and he gets 21%. Against that somewhat troubled backdrop Friday is a good time indeed for Bernie to rally the troops. Widespread statewide early voting will begin on Saturday.

It's always welcome to see New Mexico get some attention from the presidential hopefuls. After all, we have more federal dollars per capita coming in here than just about any other. And in this crazy year it's not inconceivable that Sanders could somehow end up with the Dem nomination, although the delegate count thus far rules against it.

Hillary is sending Bill Clinton in here next week for stops in ABQ and Espanola, but maybe she ought to stop by in person and follow up on what Bernie will say on these topics:

“Sanders will discuss a wide range of issues, including getting big money out of politics, his plan to make public colleges and universities tuition-free, combating climate change and ensuring universal health care.”

Come on over, Hillary. Bernie is warming up the crowd for you.

SECOND TERM WOES

The slogan for the Governor's first term was "Bold Change!" The slogan for the second could be "Stop  the Bleeding!"

Here she is pictured with Children Youth and Families Director Monique Jacobson promoting the "Pull Together" campaign aimed at decreasing child abuse in the state. But unlike the first term these ubiquitous photo ops highlighting programs that lack much substance are now widely derided.

The blood in the water is coming from several arteries--her plunge in the polls, the bitter campaign between Martinez-backed Pat Rogers and Harvey Yates for the post of GOP national committeeman, the shift in perceptions of her since her infamous pizza party and the continuing deterioration of the state's economy, the latest sign of which is the slashing of 195 positions from the ABQ Public Schools.

Even the prestige of being the chair of the Republican Governors Association this year is just another excuse for the protesters to come out as they did at a meeting of the GOP governors that Martinez was hosting Tuesday at the Hyatt Tamaya resort near Bernalillo.

Bill Richardson and Gary Johnson can tell you something about second gubernatorial terms around here. You don't go anywhere without a tourniquet because the bleeding can start at anytime.

NOT SURPRISED

So says longtime labor activist and independent John Ingram of Gov. Martinez's plunge in the polls to below the 50% approval mark:

Joe: No surprise. Shouldn't be to others, either.  When NM is forced to go without surplus revenues all the years of her reign, it results in no jobs for people. No jobs leads to no spending, no demand, and economic stagnation. All this increases the jobless rate. Then the other dominoes start to fall: drug use, drug overdose, increasing crime rates, poor graduation rates, and our "Land of Enchantment" at the bottom of all these lists.
The real surprise in these polls is the number of Democrats who are finally abandoning our sinking ship.
About that Pulling Together campaign reader Richard Flores writes:

The "pull together" campaign is window dressing at best. PR campaigns do not substitute for effective strategies of intervention with families, and adequate state funding to support early intervention, health, mental health and community based services. With the HSD debacle that dismantled the existing mental health services system, and now, with the impending loss of federal health care dollars, how can we expect that a campaign akin to "just say no to drugs" will make a difference in child safety and child well- being. If people were interested in simply accessing resources, that information has always been available. Where the "pull together" campaign is good as an ancillary approach, it does not address the real issues faced by New Mexico's children and families.

DA TV

Torrez

Dem BernCo District Attorney hopeful Raúl Torrez is going up with two TV ads today as he works to defeat challenger Ed Perea in the June 7th primary. The ads are here and here.

Based on his recent cash on hand it appears the buy will top $100,000. Perea does not appear to be in the financial shape to match Torrez, 39, on the tube.

The winner will face Republican Simon Kubiak in November  but the Dem primary winner will be the heavy favorite.

Four term DA Kari Brandenburg announced she would not seek re-election in '16.
THE BOTTOM LINES

In our first draft we said PRC candidate Cynthia Hall was running negative ads in her Dem primary campaign against PRC Commissioner Karen Montoya. The ads are actually being paid for and produced by Verde Voters, the PAC associated with Conservation Voters of New Mexico. . . A list of Democratic super delegates that was given to us had Joni Gutierrez of Las Cruces as uncommitted in the presidential race. A Dem consultant says she just recently committed and will go with Clinton. She was at the Las Cruces opening of Clinton's headquarters Tuesday.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2016