Or maybe the GOP wunderkinds see the conservative counter-revolution coming to New Mexico and you just get the base believers to the polls and not trouble yourself with nuance.

As for the use of the fired Martinez, where's the vetting? Isn't that TV production 101? That's egg you see spread all over the faces of Susana's media consultants for not checking it out.

But the egg is sticking to her apron as well. She is ultimately in charge of her campaign, but a brick-by-brick case against her competency could start to be built based on her early mishaps.

THE FOUR FLUBS

First, she undermined her anti-pay-to-play credentials by taking a $450,000 contribution from a Texas developer. The lack of perspective may have been panic-induced as GOP Guv challenger Allen Weh was outspending her heavily. Still, it defined her as another politician, not the outside reform she marketed.

Second, she comes with a TV ad that asserts she has taken on the most violent members of the Mexican drug cartels, but the ad generates newspaper stories exploring whether it is wholly based in fact.

Third, her reaction to a hate email "joke" in which a Mexican immigrant is shot to death in a bar comes up short. She understates the impact and dubs it "unacceptable," instead of roundly condemning the racist content. Also, she does not take a public role in disciplining the assistant district attorney in her office who forwarded the offensive screed.

Fourth is the death penalty TV ad that puts Darren White front and center as well as Martinez, the discredited parole board director.

Yes, it's still somewhat early. But not by much. Early voting is less than 90 days out. Voters have little to judge how Martinez would lead the state other than how she she conducts her campaign. Those paying close attention in these early innings may be in need of some reassurance--or at least a week or two free of rookie errors.

The Martinez campaign sprouted another problem over the weekend when Susana's new spokesman was booked for DWI

Raj Shah was arrested on an aggravated DWI charge in Albuquerque early Sunday morning. Shah, 25, was pulled over by State Police just after midnight in a silver BMW near the intersection of San Mateo and Osuna and arrested several minutes later.. As of Sunday evening, Shah was in the Metropolitan Detention Center on a $5,000 bond. The Martinez campaign took quick action after it found out about the arrest Sunday afternoon.

"Raj Shah … was immediately terminated," said Ryan Cangiolosi, Martinez's campaign manager...Shah had moved to New Mexico a little more than a week ago to work for Martinez's campaign.

First, the assistant DA in Martinez's office forwarding racist emails and now this. Someone send Susana a fire extinguisher.

THE DI FILE

Denish has also earned a spot in the TV bloopers show by coming with an early ad about Martinez's conviction rate as Dona Ana County district attorney. The spot was shot down and had to be recut. Also, that Denish ad accusing Martinez of "not doing her job" when it comes to two sex offenders has been spanked by FactCheck.org which said:

The Denish campaign did not prove that Martinez "didn’t do her job."

Di's latest ad, released Friday as was Susana's, makes a none too subtle play for the support of Hispanic women. In fact, the ad is dubbed "La Familia" and features testimonials from, well, Hispanic women. (See it here.)

Denish has been given a lukewarm reception among many Hispanic Dems and is gong to work to invigorate this essential core of the Democratic base. This ad is also rare in that she does not take a shot at Martinez. That in itself will be welcome to a large swath of voters already disillusioned by the negative and picayune tone of the campaign from both sides.

STATE OF THE RACE

This appears to be a favorable year for the R's. What we see as early Martinez missteps would be more costly in any other year, but she needs to stop making them before they become part of her political persona. Also, there may be a calculation by the R's that the race is Susana's to lose. Given the favorable environment, they may see no need to pivot to the center. That's a risky calculation and one that in the past has decimated the New Mexican Republican Party. After several cycles of promulgating an uncompromising, ideological driven agenda, the party commands hardly any high-level representation in state politics.

Wouldn't ads about the economic crisis and Democratic competence get Martinez where she needs to go, rather than wedge issues like the death penalty which are so effective in a GOP primary? Or ads that tell us something about who Susana Martinez is? The state still doesn't know.

Denish and the Dems are feeling the heat. They have slammed Martinez's DA record repeatedly in paid TV and yet the race is essentially tied. Maybe it would be worse if they hadn't done the early negative. Hard to say. But the Democratic nominee needs to patiently recapture the Hispanic base that appears to be drifting in the face of Martinez's historic candidacy. Denish's new ad is a step in that direction.

Unless Martinez already has this thing won on a "throw the bums out no matter what" platform, Denish may get a break if the DA stays with national Republican orthodoxy that voters here in 2008 rejected as intellectually exhausted.

HAMBURGER HEAVEN

New Mexico may lag behind in a variety of quality of life stats, but when it comes to coking up a juicy hamburgers and great french fries, we more than hold our own.

We simulated our own version of the hamburger wars recently, visiting the Buckhorn Tavern at San Antonio (south of Socorro) and then stopping in at Five Guys, the renowned national chain that recently opened in ABQ's far NE Heights.

Buckhorn Tavern owner Bobby Olguin (wife Debbie is co-owner) is no stranger to the battle. He won a cooking "throwdown" with the Food Network's famous Bobby Flay, and last July Big Bill recognized the achievement by declaring a Buckhorn Tavern Day" in the state.

But that was then, what about now? Well, Five Guys comes close to tying Olguin's Buckhorn. Their burgers are juicy indeed and very tasty, but they don't offer green chile and they lose the face-off over the french fries. Five Guys serves fries cut from genuine Idaho potatoes that are truly delicious In fact, they post on a board where in Idaho that day's potatoes came from and there are bags full of them stacked at the front of the restaurant.

The Buckhorn also makes homemade fries, but theirs are more tasty because, we think, of the oil used to deep fry them. But knowing Olguin he is not going to be happy that he beats out Five Guys on the fries while the hamburger duel is almost too close to call.

He will probably demand a throwdown ala Bobby Flay. Bring it on, Buckhorn Bobby. Just make sure we're one of the judges.

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