The Trump campaign came with a two week TV buy in early July featuring a crime ad but since then it's been zilch. Skeptics labeled the play a throw of the darts to see if Blue New Mexico could somehow be brought into the Trump fold. It doesn't appear to have worked but there are still signs of life of Trump in the state, albeit lower profile signs.For example, take this mailer recently sent out from the NMGOP attempting to paint Joe Biden as a card carrying member of the "Radical Left." Independent voters were among its recipients. It appears the Trump campaign is pumping money into the state GOP.
Will the campaign be back on TV here and make a full play for the state? That probably depends on the polling. Right now 538's computer model scenarios have Biden beating Trump here 90 times out of 100, not exactly a welcome mat. (The Trump campaign has also run Spanish radio ads attacking Biden's position on abortion.)
TRUMP JR. TALKS NM
The president doesn't have many personal connections to the state although he says he enjoys his visits here. However, his son, Donald Trump Jr., spent considerable time here and told KOAT-TV it was "amazing":
I had some amazing experiences there. I used to camp out at Navajo Dam when I was literally right out of college and spent weeks at a time there living out of the back of my truck, fly fishing the San Juan River and hiking in the mountains over there so I'm pretty familiar with the state.
A NYT Sunday profile of Trump Jr. reports he spent a year and half in Aspen, Colo., skiing, hunting, fishing and tending bar at night.
As said many times, how Trump performs in the southern congressional district is critical to the chances of Republican Yvette Herrell who is challenging freshman Dem Rep. Torres Small. The guns are already blazing there. And we do mean guns. Both contenders are up with ads showing them shooting guns as they go after the rural vote. That led to this observation spotted on Twitter:
Dear God, at this point just challenge each other to an actual duel.
The problem with a duel between XTS and Herrell is that neither would agree to use blanks.
CALIFORNIA CALLING
Why should a place like Catron County (Pop. 3,600)with only five recorded cases of COVID be subjected to the same restrictions as counties with much more of the virus? That's a question a number of readers have asked since California Govenror Gavin Newsom answered that counties like Catron shouldn't be as restrictive.Newsom unveiled a new reopening plan for the nation's largest state under which counties with low COVID cases will be allowed to reopen more rapidly. It may be a good lesson for New Mexico where policymakers have been making a specious argument that big city folks under restrictions would travel to places like Pietown in Catron County to party it up. The California example ash cans that argument and puts in place a sensible plan to control the virus and also do less harm to jobs and the economy.
MLG is already using the California model when it comes to reopening the public schools. In the latest directive in-person elementary school classes are allowed to resume after Labor Day in counties that meet goals for containing the virus. However, the ABQ Public Schools (and others) have decided to keep all students on remote learning for the remainder of this year. It does not appear the state has the power to reverse that decision--not that it would--but Legal Beagles say a court challenge might be worthwhile from those who believe a limited number of elementary students should be back in the classroom in all districts.
NO JOKE
It's no joke. At least it wasn't late last week when MLG complained about driving through Española and not seeing citizens wearing required face masks. That irritated the Republican mayor of the northern NM city famous for being the target of crass jokes about its culture. He complained mightily and MLG apologized but not before the NMGOP got this dig in:
The governor is acting like a ruler with complete power. Here, she passes through a town in her capital chariot and chastises Nortenos along the side of the road.
Hey, don't some of the Española lowriders call their cars "chariots?" Uh, oh. We may need another apology.
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020