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Thursday, September 17, 2020

Ronchetti Trying To Outrun Ben Ray With Negative TV As Campaign Clock Ticks Away, Plus: MLG On The Trail For Biden, And: Big Oil Reacts To Big Demographic Changes

Lujan and Ronchetti
GOP US Senate candidate Mark Ronchetti is trying to make the most of a rare polling gift he received this month. He has gone full-scale negative in an effort to turn the race his way after Dem US Rep. Ben Ray Lujan came up short of the magic and psychologically important number of 50 percent in the ABQ Journal survey. Never mind that Ronchetti is stranded at 40% compared to Lujan's 49%, the perception of the poll has given him a glimmer of hope.

Lujan is not letting it go unnoticed as the pair plays tit for tat with their negative ads. Ronchetti is vastly underfunded compared to Lujan and he has to make a polling move soon in order to attract the national dollars that would be needed to make a race of it in October.

Meanwhile, it appears the chances of there being three TV debates between the pair is on the rise. Lujan said if Congress is in recess October 5, when KOB-TV has its debate scheduled, he will make the stage. The latest:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) acknowledged that most lawmakers will likely return to their districts when the scheduled session ends on Oct. 2, leaving party leaders seeking to hash out an agreement with the White House. If such a deal emerges, then members would be called back to Washington. In that sense, the dynamics would look very similar to those surrounding the long August recess. . . 

While Ronchetti has harangued Lujan over not doing three broadcast debates (Lujan has agreed to KNME and KOAT-TV debates) political pros caution that he needs to be careful what he wishes for. Lujan has appeared and performed ably for several years on such national news broadcasts as Face the Nation and the rest. For some reason, he continues to be underestimated but is a walking book on what makes government tick and why.  Ronchetti is a political novice who could find himself outplayed in a debate or two, despite his lengthy experience as a seasoned TV performer doing daily weather forecasts.

The October 5 debate would be the first and could be the most important. That's because county clerks will be mailing tens of thousands of absentee ballots to voters the morning of October 6.

GUV ON TRAIL

MLG is on the campaign trail. The New Mexico Governor has been named a co-chair of the Biden transition committee and was on CNN this week trying to drum up Hispanic support for the Dem nominee. The campaign has been concerned about lagging support among Hispanics in the battleground states.

Meanwhile MLG continues to draw positive attention for her handling of the COVID crisis here. The latest to chime in is Scientific American magazine:

Testing has been a crucial part of New Mexico’s strategy. Tests are available to all the state’s residents, whether they are symptomatic or not, and are processed either at New Mexico’s own laboratory or at TriCore Reference Laboratories, an independent organization based in Albuquerque. Both facilities were switched to 24/7 work schedules very early on to maximize testing output. 

If Biden wins we guess MLG can clip the positive article and put it in her package applying to become Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Also, for the first time in its 175 year history Scientific American has endorsed a presidential candidate--Joe Biden--while criticizing Trump's handling of COVID.

OIL FACES CHANGE

The NYT comes with a secret recording of a meeting over the environment featuring top oil and gas leaders. It's interesting because the oil boys express concern about demographic changes among the public. Here's Ryan Flynn of the NM Oil and Gas Association on the tapes:

“Young voters, female voters, Hispanic voters, really every sector except for older conservative male voters,” Flynn said in the recording of the meeting, “their No. 1 issue when it comes to our industry is always going to be environmental stewardship, and concerns about what we’re doing with the environment.”

This reminds us of early August when oilman and former southern Dem Congressman Harry Teague endorsed Republican Yvette Herrell and the NMOGA's Flynn, a Republican, softened the blow by saying nice things about Dem Hispanic lawmaker Rep. Torres Small who Herrell is trying to unseat. Future profit and survival in the era of climate change are on the minds of the oil crowd and it's sending them down paths previously ignored.

MAYOR 2021

The email brings this:

Joe, this is one of your Republican Alligators reaching out. I work with a lot of Republican leaders and there’s a lot of talk about former ABQ GOP City Councilor Dan Lewis running for Mayor again. He’s actively raising money for county, legislative and federal candidates. He beat 6 other candidates last time and got over 36,000 votes in the runoff. I’ve also heard Public Education Commissioner David Robbins mentioned. . . Please don’t reveal me. :)


Don't worry, Gator, our lips are sealed. But Dan Lewis for Mayor? Sure, he received 36,000 votes in 2017 against Dem Tim Keller but that amounted to only 38 percent of the vote compared to Keller's 62 percent landslide. For now, GOP Gator, you are on training wheels.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020