Free Republic

The Albuquerque Journal’s final polls of the 2010 election cycle show races shifting even further toward Republicans in the final days. Republican Susana Martinez led by 10 in the Journal poll of the governor’s race. Democrat Gary King led by 10 in the attorney general’s race, but that means his lead has been cut in half in the last month. And in the 1st and 2nd congressional district races, Republicans Jon Barela and Steve Pearce each led by 3 points in the Journal polls.

When 69-year-old Liz Sumruld looked into a television camera for a Rep. Martin Heinrich campaign ad and said she "couldn't get by" without her $530 monthly Social Security check, she never dreamed her own lifestyle would become an issue in the 1st Congressional District campaign. But that's what happened when word trickled out that she and her husband, Tommy, own a South Valley home with an indoor swimming pool and a garage full of classic cars. Barela contends that Sumruld's claim in the Heinrich TV ad that she "couldn't get by" without her $530 Social Security check is deceitful. "It's...

This election is about a clear choice on America's way forward. It's about whether you want a government to take care of you, or one that gives you the opportunity to take care of yourself and prosper through your own hard work. If you believe more government programs, subsidies and regulations — all enacted with good intentions — are the way to lead us out of recession and make us competitive in a tough global economy, then the three Democrats seeking re-election to New Mexico's U.S. House of Representative seats would be the way to go. If you think we...

Solid support among Democratic and independent voters helped Rep. Martin Heinrich keep a lead over Republican challenger Jon Barela in the Albuquerque-based 1st Congressional District race, a new Journal Poll found. However, the poll also found that 1st District voters who cast ballots in both the 2006 and 2008 general elections — making them the most likely of all to vote on the U.S. House seat this year — were almost evenly split on the candidates. Journal pollster Brian Sanderoff said that could be good news for Barela in this nonpresidential election year.~~snip~~Heinrich, the first-term incumbent who was the first...