Trump in Rio Rancho (AP)

President Trump left nothing on the table when it came to courting New Mexico voters at a packed rally at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho last night.

(Full video here. WaPo coverage here.)

With young people sporting "Latinos for Trump" T-shirts as his backdrop Trump went to work for the vote, taking credit for the best economic advance New Mexico has made in recent years.

We have ended the last administration's war on energy. Since my election oil and natural gas production in New Mexico has increased by 40 percent. That means jobs. . . Crude oil production has more than doubled and is going up a lot higher very quickly...and your state's energy revenues are up by tw thirds. . . That's in a short period of time. Give me a little bit more time!

Never mind that the Permian Basin oil boom pre-dates his administration, that's all it took for the boisterous crowd to break into chants of "four more years" as Trump drank in the adoration.

That pitch came right at the top of his 90 minute plus talk, leaving him plenty of time to tout his military and energy budgets and the positive impacts they are having on Sandia and Los Alamos national labs and on the state's military bases most of which he mentioned by name. (Trump recently diverted money from some bases to build the border wall.)

There was more touting of the state's economic conditions by the president--from job creation to higher wages--which have improved in recent years thanks largely to the aforementioned oil boom.

He said that improvement was especially noticeable among Hispanics who hold the keys to any hope he has to winning the state next year.

As usual for a Trump rally the event ran the gamut from serious to goofy. On the goofy side Trump declared:

We love our Hispanics! Get out and vote!

And in urging that the Dems Green New Deal be rejected, he declared:

No More cows. No more airplanes.

Of course "the wall' was front and center in the speech with no backdown from Trump who argued New Mexicans understand the need for a border wall more than most because they've lived with the problems created by a lax border.

State Dems scored the speech:

It’s no surprise that the president has resorted to lying about his accomplishments in a desperate attempt to take credit for Governor Lujan Grisham and the New Mexico State Legislature’s success.

ANALYSIS ROW

The Rally (AP)

Most of the political types we asked thought Trump succeeded in what he set out to do:

Try to get New Mexico to again think of itself as a swing state and give his presidency a deeper look.

Said longtime consultant, former ABQ city councilor and Dem attorney Greg Payne:

I think it was a good speech. It was more down to earth and more in touch with the common voter than anything I've seen so far at the Democratic debates. He's gotten better as a speaker since 2016. And he continues to be willing to say what a lot of Americans feel but don't believe they can say anymore. Conservative Democrats in New Mexico that Trump is courting could get a role to play here, if the Dem nominee is seen as too far left.

One of our Senior Alligator sources called the speech somewhat "tame" for him and wondered if Trump was "lightening up" as he ramps up his re-election bid. He added:

The rally was pretty much standard Trump. It was lacking, however, the red meat quips that usually feed the media, rally supporters and enrage Democrats. His comments about  (then-Governor) Susana Martinez at his last New Mexico rally in 2016 made headlines, but he resisted ripping apart local officials on this visit. This west coast swing by the President seems meant to test various campaign messages to see how they resonate. He obviously worked hard on teasing out various themes around the Hispanic community, but nothing was too provocative. 

From our perch Trump did himself no harm. He put forth some credible arguments about how his presidency has directly benefited the state. He rallied and energized his base voters. Whether he made inroads beyond that in this Dem bastion is doubtful. Polling in the weeks ahead will tell us.

AND YOU'RE WHO?

To say the greeting party for the president was comprised of second-tier politicos is today's understatement. There was not a top Republican official in sight because, well, there are no longer any top GOP officials in New Mexico. They were wiped out in the last election.

San Juan County GOP State Rep. Rod Montoya, the House Minority Whip, mustered his best handshake for the nation's #1. The mayor of Rio Rancho and a couple of county commissioners also greeted Trump as did the Navajo Nation Vice-President. And that was it.

You kinda missed Saint Pete at that moment, as full of himself as he could seem at such times. The  Republican Senator, now gone, gave the greeting of a president of either party some New Mexico gravitas. (And if you don't know who Saint Pete was, you're too young to be reading this stuff).

That low key greeting party should tell the Trump campaign how long a longshot their dream of taking New Mexico actually is.

No Dem officeholders greeted the president. But then he was here for a partisan campaign rally. The Dems did offer up a protest at a park near downtown ABQ to make sure they got airtime against Trump.

TRUMP NM STAFF

As the Trump campaign romances the Hispanic vote in New Mexico there is some irony in the name of the new state director for the president's re-election campaign in New Mexico. She's Leslie White, the executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. Uh. OK.

The Trump Regional Director for the area that includes New Mexico is Brian Seitchik, a political consultant who is a former executive director of the Arizona GOP.

House Minority Leader James Townsend of Artesia and former GOP state Rep. Sharon Clahchischilliage of NW NM have been named Honorary State Chairs for the Trump effort.

Hispanic representation? Did someone forget something for the Trump opening act here?

MEDIA NIGHTMARE

While Trump's visit went off smoothly--no violent protests like 2016–the night was a nightmare for one media outlet.

KOB-TV inexplicably went dark right after 6 p.m. as it kicked off its early news. That was only moments from when Air Force One landed at Kirtland Air Force Base and the President disembarking to NM soil, truly "money shots" of a presidential visit.

The station stayed dark as Trump stepped off the plane, waved to the crowd, was greeted by low-level GOP officials and then signed autographs for military personnel. KOB missed it all. Network programming--Ninja Warrior of all things--did pop up during the time of the Trump arrival but with no explanation and more critically with no news.

So what went wrong? A KOB-TV insider told me:

Joe, the station just went to a new graphics system. It had a bug in it and took the entire system down, We could not get any remote camera coverage from KAFB or the Santa Ana center or the studio. Obviously, it could not have happened at a worse time. Of course, everything is done on a shoestring budget around here these days. 

A bug? They better get a can of Raid at the NBC affiliate.

Meanwhile. KOAT-TV cleaned up as it was the only station of the major three to broadcast the presidential arrival live and over the air. Hardly a political junkie, anchorman Doug Fernandez ably narrated the 10 minutes or so that Trump was chatting at KAFB. He was backed by solid camera work.

To add insult to injury KOAT landed a brief Trump interview backstage at the rally, an interview the station billed as "exclusive." Trump will be in town this morning. Maybe the other stations can catch up.

Meantime, as Trump walked on New Mexico territory for the first time as president KRQE amused itself with showings of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. No live over the air coverage.

While the early going was a disaster for KOB it hardly registered with much of the public (especially those younger) who long ago abandoned TV news for social media and/or alternate video streams.

The TV news audience is much smaller than it was back in 2000 when another disaster befell local media. That's when the Los Alamos fires broke out--some of the worst in state history--and KOAT was unable  to keep its helicopter in the air. However, KOB did keep its chopper flying and delivered alarming and compelling live video of the event. In the aftermath, their ratings soared and they overtook KOAT as the #1 station in the news ratings. You might say the misery at KOB last night was KOAT-TV's long awaited revenge.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

Please note our new email address:

E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com)

Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. 

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019