Posted on 10/14/2002 7:03:46 AM PDT by BlackRazor
Race in Southern NM may be closest in U.S.
Associated Press
Republican Steve Pearce and Democrat John Arthur Smith remain in a tight race in New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District with three weeks left to campaign, according to a new poll.
And in the 1st District, Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., has a substantial lead over Democratic challenger Richard Romero, the Albuquerque Journal reported in a copyright story on Sunday.
The 2nd District contest in Southern New Mexico is one of a handful of races nationwide that could decide which party controls the narrowly divided House of Representatives, where Republicans now hold the edge.
Pearce was favored by 38 percent of respondents in the 2nd District, while Smith was supported by 36 percent of those surveyed, the poll showed. Twenty-six percent were undecided.
"This could be the closest congressional race in the nation," said Brian Sanderoff, whose Albuquerque-based Research and Polling Inc. conducted the survey.
The 2nd District vacancy occurred when Republican Rep. Joe Skeen retired after 20 years.
Pearce's press secretary, Gail Gitcho, said the campaign hopes to get a boost from a visit Monday to Roswell by Vice President Dick Cheney.
Both Pearce and Smith have dropped slightly since the last Journal poll, Smith by 3 points and Pearce by 1.
Smith, a real estate appraiser and state senator from Deming, led in the district's western counties and in Doña Ana County.
Pearce, an oil field service company owner and former state representative from Hobbs, led Smith by a 2-to-1 margin in eastern counties.
The margin of error for the polls in both the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts was plus or minus 6 percentage points.
In the 1st District contest, 51 percent of those polled favored Wilson, a former National Security Council aide and head of the state Children, Youth and Families Department. She was first elected in a 1998 special election and twice re-elected.
Romero, a former Albuquerque Public Schools administrator and president pro tem of the state Senate, was backed by 39 percent of respondents. Ten percent were undecided, the poll said.
The Journal surveyed 249 likely registered voters in the 2nd District and 265 in the 1st District Oct. 7-10.
These are awfully small sample sizes, but the poll results are fairly consistent with previous independent polling.
If you want on or off my poll ping list, let me know!
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