Free Republic

"You know, Governor Palin has more executive experience than Senator Obama, Senator Biden, and Senator Schumer combined because those guys have never run anything." -- Rep. Heather Wilson U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) MSNBC August 29, 2008 MSNBC's Peter Alexander: "There were several women spoken about as possible vice presidential candidates, Kay Bailey Hutchinson from Texas, Meg Whitman from eBay, Carly Fiorina, why Governor Palin?" Rep. Heather Wilson: "She's a chief executive of a state. She's a governor, former mayor of a city in Alaska. She's been a businesswoman. She helped her husband run the family fishing business. She's a...

The FBI is investigating how a California firm won a state consulting contract worth almost $1 million in connection with the massive GRIP transportation bond program. Agents have been interviewing people involved in awarding contracts to CDR Financial Products LLC, and are looking at its political contributions to political action committees established by Gov. Bill Richardson. The $1.6 billion GRIP bond program is one of the biggest in state history and has been used to pay for road improvements and the Rail Runner commuter train. GRIP stands for Governor Richardson's Investment Partnership and was approved by the Legislature during a...

Colorado: McCain 47 - 46Nevada: Obama 49 - 44New Mexico: Obama 53-40Pennsylvania: Obama 48-43

They have worked for almost seven years in secret. Most people did not know that the work in Ray Goehner’s materials characterization department at Sandia National Laboratories was contributing important information to the FBI’s investigation of letters containing bacillus anthracis, the spores that cause the disease anthrax. The spores were mailed in the fall of 2001 to several news media offices and to two U.S. senators. Five people were killed. in those letters was not a weaponized form, a form of the bacteria prepared to disperse more readily.

All eyes may be on Denver this week, but the Republican National Committee began their meetings to draft an election platform today ahead of next week’s convention. Sparks flew when delegates got into debate over illegal immigration, which reflected where John McCain originally stood on the issue, but has now taken a more conservative stance. Delegates were split into different subcommittees and it was in the national security meeting where members got into heated discussion surrounding the issues of amnesty and English as the official language of the United States. Two delegates wanted to harden the language surrounding the issue...

EL PASO, Texas — Security is being heightened along the southern U.S. border because of a threat that warring Mexican cartels may send hit men into the United States, authorities said Monday. Law enforcement officials would not discuss specific security measures being taken at the ports of entry, along the border or in the city of El Paso, Texas. "We received credible information that drug cartels in Mexico have given permission to hit targets on the U.S. side of the border," El Paso police spokesman Officer Chris Mears said.

New Mexico Republicans are angry that Secretary of State Mary Herrera hired U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall's son-in-law to head the state Elections Bureau. The new director, Jim Noel, is married to Udall's wife's daughter, Amanda Cooper. Cooper is managing the Northern New Mexico congressman's campaign against Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce for the seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. Noel, currently executive director of the state Judicial Standards Commission, starts his new job Sept. 8. "The hiring of Tom Udall's son-in-law as state elections director is a stunning conflict of interest," spokeswoman Shira Rawlinson said...

Richardson: Bill Clinton ‘still ticked off at me’ By Klaus Marre Posted: 08/26/08 12:42 PM [ET] New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) said Tuesday that he has made up with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) after endorsing her rival but that he has not even spoken to Bill Clinton since then. The former president is “probably still ticked off at me,” said Richardson,

On Day One of the Democratic National Convention, the message to New Mexico's 38 delegates was as clear as the blue sky over the Front Range: Do something you couldn't get done in 2004 — and win battleground New Mexico for Barack Obama. "We are counting on you, New Mexico. ... We need you, New Mexico," Donna Brazile, a national Democratic heavy hitter who managed Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, exhorted the New Mexicans at their breakfast meeting Monday. "Your state — New Mexico — is absolutely key," Federico Peña, a former Denver mayor, energy and transportation secretary and a...

New York and 11 other states are suing federal environmental regulators over greenhouse gas emissions from oil refineries, the New York attorney general's office said on Monday. The suit, led by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, charges that the Environmental Protection Agency violated the federal Clean Air Act by refusing to issue standards, known as new source performance standards, for controlling global warming pollution emissions from oil refineries. Note: Other states in the suit are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. New York City and Washington D.C. also joined in...

Presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama has chosen, and his selection of Sen. Joe Biden for the ticket's second spot has not helped his faltering campaign: It’s a dead heat in the race for the White House. The first national poll conducted entirely after Barack Obama publicly named Joe Biden as his running mate suggests that battle for the presidency between the Illinois senator and Republican rival John McCain is all tied up. In a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out Sunday night, 47 percent of those questioned are backing Obama with an equal amount supporting the Arizona senator. “This...

A round of new polls by Mason-Dixon and the Denver Post, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and the Salt Lake Tribune will give everyone something to chew on. ... On the plus side for McCain, he’s surprisingly up by four points in New Mexico (45%-41%) and seven points in Nevada (46%-39%). On the minus side for him, he’s ahead only by six points in his home state of Arizona (47%-41%), and he’s trailing Obama by three in Colorado (46%-43%), although a new Quinnipiac poll out today has McCain up one in this state (47%-46%).

Group: Topless taboo is sexistCity says shirtless protest can skirt ordinances Tom Sharpe | The New Mexican 8/22/2008 - 8/23/08 An organization that believes in extraterrestrials and claims to have cloned the world's first human wants women to bare their breasts in public today. They'll get no legal arguments from the city of Santa Fe. The Raelian Movement was founded by a sports-car journalist named Claude Vorihon who claims to have been visited by space aliens near Clermont-Ferrand, France, in 1973. Vorihon, who subsequently changed his name to Rael, said the aliens — 3-feet tall with pale-green skin, almond-shaped eyes...

While John McCain has gained ground on Barack Obama in a number of states over the past month, little has changed in New Mexico. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows Obama ahead 47% to McCain's 41%. A month ago, it was Obama by five percentage points. The stability of the race is emphasized by the fact that Obama’s support has been at 46% or 47% of the vote in three straight surveys. McCain has been at 41% for three of the past four months. Both candidates are viewed favorably by 56% of the state’s voters. Last month, both were...

August 22, 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Rod Antone (505) 414-7701 A new poll released today shows Congressman Pearce, candidate for U.S. Senate, is now within striking range of his opponent Tom Udall. The Rasmussen survey, which had Pearce down by 28 points in late July, shows he has closed the gap to 8 points in less than a month. "It proves what we're seeing and hearing all over the state. People are rejecting the failed policies of the past" said Pearce "Particularly on energy, they are tired of watching Tom Udall and the far-left anti-drilling, anti-nuclear extremists deny access...

Clovis native Rebecca Sitterly registered to vote soon after returning to her native state in 1979 and jumped right into Democratic politics about the same time. So the former Bernalillo County district judge was surprised to get a July 3 call from a community nonprofit that was checking on her new registration. When Sitterly said she hadn't filled out a registration form (indeed, she'd been regularly voting in the same place on Mountain Road NW in Albuquerque for nearly 20 years) a supervisor with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now promised to destroy the card, Sitterly said in...

Republican Steve Pearce has cut his opponent’s lead by more than half, but Democrat Tom Udall still leads 51% to 41% in the U.S. Senate race in New Mexico, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state. With “leaners” factored in, Udall’s lead drops to 52% to 44%, the first time in five months of polling that the gap has been out of double digits. Last month, Udall had a 59% to 34% lead over Pearce.

Republican Steve Pearce has cut his opponent’s lead by more than half, but Democrat Tom Udall still leads 51% to 41% in the U.S. Senate race in New Mexico, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state. With “leaners” factored in, Udall’s lead drops to 52% to 44%, the first time in five months of polling that the gap has been out of double digits. Last month, Udall had a 59% to 34% lead over Pearce.

John McCain stated unequivocally in an interview with Politico Wednesday that he would not pledge to serve only a single four-year term. LAS CRUCES, N.M., — John McCain stated unequivocally in an interview with Politico Wednesday that he would not pledge to serve only a single four-year term, rejecting a suggestion that some allies believe would allay questions about his age and underscore his non-partisan message of putting country first. “No,” McCain said flatly, “I’m not considering it.” There has been speculation that McCain, 71, could couple a single term promise with a untraditional running mate such as Democrat-turned-Independent Sen....

Here is video of Sen. John McCain at a Town Hall Meeting today in New Mexico where he told the crowd that Barack Obama was getting "a little testy" about McCain's criticism of his opposition to the Surge in Iraq, accusing McCain of questioning his "patriotism." McCain told the crowd, "I'm not questioning his patriotism -- I'm questioning his judgment." . . . (see video)

When Montana's governor, Brian Schweitzer, launched his campaign for re-election this summer he chose to be pictured on a horse lassooing a calf, and in silhouette against a barn door, presumably after a long hard day on the ranch. What was not mentioned was the word Democrat - a party affiliation that in some parts of the west still conjures up associations with gay marriage, gun control and abortion. Those sensibilities could be in for a shake-up as Barack Obama launches the Democrats' most aggressive drive for years for votes from the Rocky Mountain west. The strategy unrolling now across...

Speaking at a high school in New Mexico, Barack Obama was asked about immigration and, according to a liveblog of the event, said: "We are a nation of immigrants," Obama answers. "The only people can say that they aren't immigrants are the people sitting right here," the Presidential candidate says and points to the tribal leaders. "There are some families who have been here for 4 or 500 years. They didn't cross the border, the border crossed them." While he's correct to a point, those comments are also straight out of Reconquista 101. An analysis of his comments is at...

SANTA FE — A state Senate leader, worried about New Mexico's revenue projections, called for a dramatically scaled-back tax rebate plan Saturday at a special legislative session called by Gov. Bill Richardson... "This is all about economics — just how much money you have," Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, said of his plan to send out about $56 million worth of state rebate checks to New Mexicans strapped by high gas prices — a far cry from the $120 million rebate plan pushed by Richardson, a fellow Democrat.~~snip~~ Richardson called the special session, which began on Friday, in...

The DNCC announced the speakers for the prime-time slot on Wednesday night of the convention, and the list is intriguing. Wednesday night is when the VP nominee addresses the convention, and CNN scrutinizes the list for a hint on Barack Obama’s choice Former president Bill Clinton will address the delegates, as will Harry Reid, Ken Salazar, and Jay Rockefeller. Alexander Mooney focuses on two other speakers, but misses an obvious third choice: The two senators widely believed to be at the top of Barack Obama’s shortlist for VP have been given prime-time speaking slots at the Democratic convention Wednesday night...

Obstructed mountain views, increased traffic and parking headaches are just a few of the issues neighbors have with a proposed transit-oriented development near Zia Road and St. Francis Drive. Developer SF Brown faced a somewhat hostile crowd at the library of Capshaw Middle School during an early neighborhood-notification meeting Wednesday night. The local firm wants to spend the next 10-plus years building offices, retail space and rental condominiums on the 20 acres it owns on all sides of the intersection of Zia Road with Galisteo Road — where the state has promised to stop commuter trains. But for a number...

Deming - Today, Congressman Steve Pearce discussed the extreme environmentalists and the use of lawsuits to prevent America from increasing our domestic supply of energy on KDEM-KOTS Radio in Deming. "Tom Udall sides with the small group of extremists who are locking up our public land and putting it off limits with endless lawsuits," said Pearce. "They are the ones who say we can't drill for more oil, we can't cut the dead trees out of our forests, and we can't use the land for grazing." Tom Udall, a former lawyer, has taken more than $700,000 from lawyers and law...

A Domenici spokesman, Chris Gallegos, confirms Pearce's announcement that the longtime senator will announce his backing of Pearce Thursday in Albuquerque. Pearce is running against a fellow New Mexico congressman, Democrat Tom Udall, for the seat that Domenici has held for six terms. Domenici announced last fall that he is retiring in January because of an incurable brain disease. His support of Pearce comes nearly three months after he endorsed Pearce's rival, Republican Rep. Heather Wilson, in her unsuccessful bid for the Senate seat during the primary election.

Team Obama has GOT to get Bill Richardson away from cameras. He's on CNN right now. He said that "a President Obama would have a good strong relationship with Russia, and this sort of thing wouldn't happen." (paraphrased; I'll check against the transcript when it's available.) Richardson just said that McCain is "irrationally make threats" by urging the G8 to expel Russia, and "that's only gonna make matters worse." Of course. Russia has killed thousands, turned tens of thousands into refugees, they're advancing on the capital, the airport's been bombed, the pipeline is endangered, and the Georgian navy vessels are...

A ride between Downtown Albuquerque and the heart of Santa Fe would cost Rail Runner Express riders $6 one way or $8 round trip and would take about an hour and 20 minutes each way, under draft fare and schedule information released by the Mid-Region Council of Governments. The Santa Fe to Bernalillo leg of the commuter train service is expected to be in place by year's end. It will tie into the leg that now operates from Bernalillo to Belen with stops in Albuquerque. Under the proposed service schedule, eight northbound trains would pull into the capital city each...

CLICK here to listen to the ad. The full transcript: Steve Pearce: This is Steve Pearce. It's time our government stood up for working families, reduce our energy costs by building nuclear power plants, and drilling for oil on land and off shore.   The far left environmentalists are not going to like this and maybe it’s not politically correct, but nuclear energy is a sure way toAmerica's energy independence. Nuclear power can make America free from Middle Eastern oil cartels.   Nuclear power will make energy affordable, America prosperous and keep American jobs here instead of being shipped...

Tom Udall says that a recent campaign of attack ads by his opponent for the seat being vacated by U.S. Senator Pete Domenici reflects desperation. Republican Steve Pearce, New Mexico’s second district congressman, has television commercials on the air and took out a full page ad in the Albuquerque Journal with a picture of 60s-era protesting hippies that accuses Udall of being aligned with “hysterical left wing allies.”

Steve Pearce fights *Hoax* Drill billRepresentative Pearce who is running for the Senate points out that Democrat energy bill would actually erect more barriers to drilling and illustrates the liberal environmental activists who are funding Democrats in efforts to stop drilling and domestic energy production.Help Steve defeat liberal Tom Udall http://www.peopleforpearce.com/

KRQE Channel 13 in Albuquerque aired this disturbing report about criminals, including child rapists, persons convicted of fraud and forgery, and drug dealers, being hired by ACORN to solicit voter registrations: The litany convictions and charges against these individuals is long and this story is not the first problem for ACORN this year nationally or in New Mexico. In June the Dona Ana County Clerk warned citizens about registering with third party groups. Across the country states like Arizona, Arkansas Louisiana, Nevada, Virginia, Wisconsin and others have warned citizens about registering with and providing sensitive personal information to groups like...

In a new program, the US Department of Energy and its Southwest Regional Partnership recently began to inject carbon dioxide into a large coal bed while simultaneously recovering natural gas, DOE's Fossil Energy Office reported Aug. 4. It said the planned injection of CO2 in a 6-month demonstration near Navajo City, NM, differs from other enhanced coalbed methane (CBM) recovery projects because it will attempt to maximize permanent CO2 storage in a process called geologic carbon sequestration using enhanced coalbed methane recovery. "Many coal beds in the United States are saturated with natural gas (methane), but the gas is difficult...

New Mexico's two U.S. Senate contenders appear headed for a showdown on national TV. -SNIP- MARTY ON BARACK: The New Mexico Republican Party on Friday fired off a news release highlighting comments that Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, a Democrat, made to the National Journal about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. “The real question in my mind is whether Senator Obama is going to be able to capture Hispanics by a significant margin,” the magazine quoted Chavez as saying. “That's a big 'if,' because he's clearly an urbanite.” Chavez in a Friday interview with this newspaper said his point is that...

NBC has picked the Udall-Pearce contest as one of several key Senate campaigns they will feature in debates this summer and fall. Pearce will be walking tall this weekend with a new Zogby poll showing the race much tighter than previous polling. Udall leads Pearce by eight points, 49-41 per cent. That is compared to last week's Rasmussen poll, where Udall had a 25-point lead. Pearce believes he is on the way to closing Udall's advantage. “The voters are hearing my message of drill for American oil, build nuclear. It also shows that Tom's support is collapsing - people are...

SAN FRANCISCO -- About a dozen members of the Minutemen, a group that patrols the U.S.-Mexican border in an effort to keep illegal immigrants out, stood on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall today to decry the city's sanctuary policy and demand that Mayor Gavin Newsom resign. They waved signs calling Newsom, District Attorney Kamala Harris and William Siffermann, head of the city's Juvenile Probation Department, "accessories to murder" for the city's now-reversed policy of not turning over illegal immigrant youths arrested for felonies to federal authorities for possible deportation. One Salvadoran immigrant who benefited from the policy, Edwin...

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO – Social and environmental groups yesterday challenged a multistate proposal to trim greenhouse gas emissions because they fear it would harm low-income communities and be vulnerable to fraud. Protesters showed up outside a meeting of the Western Climate Initiative in San Diego, where leaders from several states and Canadian provinces discussed their pollution-reduction compact. California supports the blueprint, which aims to drop climate pollutants 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. The most controversial aspect is a plan to create a cap-and-trade system for atmospheric pollutants. Once emission limits are set by the 11 participating governments, high-polluting...

Two Rail Runner Express tunnels completed under Interstate 25 and an overpass under way in La Cienega are not as tall as state rules require. But state officials say there will be no need to rebuild the tunnels — technically called box culverts — or the overpass because they are within the federal standards for passenger trains. The state standards were written in the 1950s for freight trains that use double-decked cars — and shouldn't apply to the Rail Runner track, which will carry only passenger trains, the officials say. The state Public Regulation Commission on Tuesday tabled a state...

At 11:30 am today, right as the ground breaking ceremony with Brian Bilbray and Duncan Hunter was getting underway at the bottom of Smuggler's Gulch, four Bush-McCain-Kennedy "guest workers" decided to invade the sovereign territory of the United States (sans permission) just a couple hundred yards to the east on the high ground. Apparently, they figured the distraction of the nearby ceremony would be a great time to sneak past the Border Patrol who were all down in the gulch. An American Patriot driving towards Smuggler's via the border road spotted 4 in the bushes, got out and snapped these...

<p>Emergency personnel evacuated about 700 people from Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs early Sunday as the rain-swollen Rio Ruidoso overwhelmed several bridges in town, coursed over roads, damaged homes and stranded dozens of campers in the area.</p>

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson slammed GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain today, calling his criticism of Barack Obama's trip to Europe and the Middle East as nothing more than "sour grapes." Richardson, one of Sen. Obama's most high-profile surrogates, also said that the Obama campaign was considering a trip to Latin America sometime prior to the November election. "There are discussions about it. He wants to emphasize that his administration would not be Europe-centric or only focused on the Middle East," said Richardson in an interview. The trip would also likely generate excitement among many of the country's Hispanic...

Your daily routine -- switching on a light, cooking a meal, driving down the street -- would generate less greenhouse gases under a first-of-its-kind regional strategy to curb global warming unveiled Wednesday at the state Capitol in Salem. The strategy emerged from the Western Climate Initiative, an alliance of Western states -- including Oregon and Washington -- and Canadian provinces trying to jump ahead of any federal move to regulate greenhouse gases. Large utility companies and factory owners would feel the effects first, followed by fuel distributors, as they face limits on their greenhouse gas emissions. Individual Oregonians would not...

In the race for New Mexico’s Electoral College votes, Barack Obama has a five-point advantage over John McCain. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows Obama attracting 46% of the vote while John McCain earns 41%. Last month, Obama enjoyed an eight-point advantage. Two months ago, it was Obama by nine.

Rasmussen shows a tightening race in New Mexico: Obama 46 (-1 vs. 6/23 poll) McCain 41 (+2) With "leaners" (who don't initially express a preference for one of the major candidates) Obama's lead widens to 6 points: Obama 49 McCain 43

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is "overreacting" and "whining" in response to The New York Times refusing to run his editorial about Iraq. Richardson, who supports Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president, said in an interview on Fox News on Tuesday that the rejection of McCain's editorial is not surprising because The New York Times turns down many editorials from politicians, including presidential candidates. "Well, look, The New York Times is very fussy. I mean, I've sent many editorials that they've rejected — in fact, most of them," Richardson said.

A surrogate for John McCain made a leftward feint on a campaign conference call today, suggesting that the presumptive Republican nominee might pull troops out of Iraq sooner than Barack Obama. "He’d like troops to come home earlier than 16 months if the conditions allow it," Rep. Heather Wilson, (R-New Mexico), said of McCain.

A company in Massachusetts says it trademarked the name “Rail Runner” in the nineties. And now they want New Mexico to stop using it. "Rail Runner Incorporated filed what's called an opposition to the use of New Mexico Rail Runner on September 2, 2006 with the trademark trial and appeal board of the U.S Patent and Trade Mark Office," said a spokesman for the East Coast company. The company makes a machine that they say makes it easier to move containers from trains to semis. The East Coast company is now waiting for a decision from the patent and trademark...

Plans for a sales tax to support the Rail Runner commuter train and a regional bus system are gaining steam. Bernalillo and Sandoval counties are to consider this week publishing a legal notice needed to put the one-eighth-cent tax on the Nov. 4 ballot. Valencia County might do the same, though perhaps not until next month. "I think the Rail Runner's time has come," said Alan Armijo, chairman of the Bernalillo County Commission. Voters "at least need the opportunity to decide that." The tax proposal must clear one more step before going to the counties — passage by the regional...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday that he would not allow a vote on an amendment giving states new authority to seek oil off their coasts when he brings a Democratic energy bill to the floor later this month.Reid criticized President Bush’s announcement earlier in the day to rescind a longstanding executive order banning offshore oil drilling, saying it was a gift to the oil companies that are not exploring for oil in 68 millions of acres available to them. Republicans are now pressuring Democrats to rescind a congressional moratorium prohibiting the practices and give states the option...