Election Day

Or Happy New Governor Day New Mexico! Whoever wins the election today one thing is for certain, one Bill Richardson will soon be on a path to an uncertain retirement from New Mexico politics. Uncertain because it is would be impossible to guess as to what Richardson will do next. In statewide politics the only option that would not seem to be a demotion would be senator and it is doubtful that Richardson (or anyone) could beat Jeff Bingaman simply because he has been there forever and name recognition still rules in New Mexico. So what next for Richardson? It doesn’t matter, soon enough he will be gone tarnished from a life in democrat politics, good riddance.

What has been striking to me in this election cycle is the welcome quality of Republican candidates. All too often in politics many candidates are re-treads, multi-decade incumbents or flacks who have waited in line for their turn. While there are some Republican candidates who fit this mold (hello Steve Pearce) many are really quality people and I think are prepared for what may be new jobs tomorrow.

It all starts at the top with our likely new governor, Susana Martinez. Contrast Martinez with Diane Denish, Denish has been or campaigned for Lt Governor for the last twelve years. In her Ads Denish attempted to identify herself first as a corruption fighter, with no results, then as the owner of an unnamed small business and a single mother for a period time to an education reformer where nothing changed most notably results. Martinez is a successful DA in Dona Ana County who has been successful for many years in that role with a record that she could run on consistently throughout the campaign.

Notable differences in resume quality continue in House of Representatives candidates. Take Martin Heinrich, what has he ever done that even resembles experience in the private sector? He worked as an engineer at Philips semiconductors for several months and then worked at a camp, then as an unregistered lobbyist and city councilor before becoming a congressman. That’s the best the democrats have to offer. His opponent, Republican Jon Barela worked for a congressman, Joe Skeen, then for a major law firm in Albuquerque, then Intel and then opened his own successful company Cerelink.

Matt Chandler brings a fresh perspective to the Attorney General’s office compared to the legacy Gary King, who may be perfectly mediocre but has proven to be very politically motivated. In the North, Tom Mullins is an engineer who is truly conservative running against Ben Ray Lujan who has an even thinner resume than Martin Heinrich. In the South Steve Pearce is running for a seat he once held against businessman democrat Harry Teague and while this race seems different and one could assume that Teague would be business friendly, Teague has voted in line with democrat priorities (excepting certain politically motivated exceptions) and operates his business in the cartoonish ways his party attempts to paint conservatives.

There are many stories today about how many races the Republicans may win today and the best part is that many of the Republican candidates are no longer just the lesser of two evils but intelligent people that adhere to actual conservative governing principles which I believe will lead to a better state and country.