The Democratic primary campaign for Governor just never caught fire. But it will at the end when it seems destined that the two challengers to front-runner Michelle Lujan Grisham will go down in flames.

The enormous lead she has in the ABQ Journal poll released Sunday matches the one we showed on our Wednesday, May 24 robocall poll. The Journal awarded her 57 percent; the blog poll had her at 54. In the Journal Jeff Apodaca scored 15; in the blog 18. Joe Cervantes received 9 percent in the Journal and 11 percent in ours. The paper had undecided at 19 and we had it at 17.

In other words, there's little doubt that MLG will be the Democratic nominee to face Republican Steve Pearce in November when we tally the results June 5 on KANW 89.1 FM and kanw.com.

From the beginning Democrats have been comfortable with the ABQ congresswoman and she endured little criticism in the primary. Cervantes gave it a shot but the bullets fell well short of their target. Apodaca won the passion contest but could not translate that into widespread support.

The main event promises to be more challenging for Lujan Grisham. Underdog Pearce will work to not only challenge her on the issues, but on character, if he is to have nay hope for the upset. His campaign is eyeing the same MLG business dealings that Cervantes targeted and they will also gnaw away at her as temperamental and unable to work with others. Their not so subtle implication is that if you didn't like Susana Martinez you aren't going to like Lujan Grisham.

Next Tuesday night, however, she will address a unified majority party, with an army surrounding the ABQ metro ready to fend off Pearce who must make major advances here.

A Pearce-Lujan Grisham campaign will not just be a study in contrasts, it's a study of two candidates whose approach to life and politics is worlds apart. Even Jeff Apodaca and Joe Cervantes will want to stay around for that show.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2018