Free Republic

As national Republican leaders fret about their party’s showing among Hispanics in the Nov. 6 elections and consider the GOP’s future, they might want to check in with a couple of prominent New Mexico Republicans. Rep. Steve Pearce, who represents New Mexico’s border with Mexico, and Gov. Susana Martinez, who hails from the border-area town of Las Cruces, both have plenty to say about their party and Hispanic politics. In a telephone interview Monday, Martinez said Romney’s weak result among Hispanics, who chose Obama by a more than 3-1 ratio nationally, isn’t necessarily a harbinger of things to come for...

About 10 percent of the vote in Bernalillo County – based on 2008 voter turnout – has already been cast for the Nov. 6 election, according to the county clerk’s office. And so far, Democrats are leading in numbers. More than 53 percent of the early vote and absentee ballots have been cast by Democrats, although the party represents 46 percent of Bernalillo County’s registered voters. Setting aside absentee ballots, Democrats’ share of the early vote increases to nearly 56 percent of the vote so far. Political analyst Brian Sanderoff said that early Democratic advantage in the county’s ballot totals...

President Barack Obama leads Republican Mitt Romney by 10 points in the race for New Mexico’s five electoral votes, with about three weeks remaining before Election Day, the Journal Poll found. The Democratic president had 49 percent support in the statewide survey of likely voters, and some who had already voted, compared with 39 percent of voters who said they preferred Romney. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee for president, had 6 percent support in the survey. Five percent of New Mexico voters were undecided. The Journal Poll was conducted Oct. 9-11. The margin of sampling...

Washington (CNN) - Republicans are moving three staffers out of Democratic-leaning New Mexico and shifting them to Colorado and Nevada, two states where the presidential race is more competitive. The Republican National Committee and Mitt Romney's campaign will continue to maintain staff and victory offices in New Mexico, a spokesman for the RNC said.

SANTA FE – Fresh off her prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention, Gov. Susana Martinez is riding high among New Mexico voters. Sixty-nine percent said they approve of the Republican governor’s performance 20 months into her first term, a new Journal Poll found. Just 17 percent of voters polled Sept. 3-6 said they disapprove of her job performance, while 14 percent were undecided. Martinez, elected in 2010 with 53 percent of the vote, has pursued an apparently popular agenda, campaigning against driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, pushing for tougher school standards, opposing new taxes and trimming the size of...

A new statewide poll commissioned by The Albuquerque Journal shows President Barack Obama with a relatively small lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney and 8 percent of voters still undecided. The poll suggests that New Mexico's presidential race may be more competitive than national pundits and polls have previously suggested. The Journal poll (http://bit.ly/U2Jeuq ) published Sunday in a copyright story shows 45 percent of those surveyed backed Obama and 40 percent supported Romney. Another 7 percent backed the Libertarian candidate for president, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A new statewide poll commissioned by The Albuquerque Journal shows President Barack Obama with a relatively small lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney and 8% of voters still undecided. The poll suggests that New Mexico's presidential race may be more competitive than national pundits and polls have previously suggested.

The presidential race in New Mexico may be more competitive than national pundits and polls have suggested. According to a Journal Poll, President Barack Obama appears to have a small lead over Republican Mitt Romney in New Mexico, but Obama has not topped 50 percent, and 8 percent of voters were undecided in a close race with nine weeks remaining. Obama drew support from 45 percent of the New Mexico voters surveyed between Sept. 3 and Sept. 6, while Romney stayed within striking distance at 40 percent. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate for president, who...

Republican Heather Wilson, a candidate for U.S. Senate in New Mexico, has a new ad criticizing her opponent, Democratic congressman Martin Heinrich, for voting twice for a medical device tax that Heinrich had noted himself would be bad for job creation. ... Wilson, a former member of the House, is running to replace retiring Democrat Jeff Bingaman in the Senate.

Mitt Romney’s appearance in Hobbs on Thursday (Aug. 23) has some Republicans thinking things will be much more competitive for the GOP presidential candidate than they were four years ago. Back in 2008, Barack Obama swamped Republican nominee John McCain, winning the state in a blowout – by 15.1 points in a state that prior to that year had been way too close to call. While a lot of political observers think Obama is the decided favorite to win in New Mexico, things appear to be tightening. After racking up leads of as much as 15 points in some polls,...

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, barnstorming for presidential candidate Mitt Romney, made an unexpected stop in Albuquerque Saturday when his plane developed in-flight problems and made an emergency landing. The private plane touched safely down just before 4 p.m. after a cockpit sensor indicated an electrical problem, according to Daniel Jirón, a spokesman for the Albuquerque International Sunport. Fire and rescue units were called out and standing by for the landing, Jirón added.

A majority of New Mexico Democrats have a favorable opinion of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, and President Barack Obama would easily defeat either of the current top two Republican candidates in a New Mexico contest, according to a new Rasmussen poll.~~snip~~Fifty-four percent of New Mexico Democrats have a favorable opinion of the governor, while 94 percent of Republicans view her favorably. Sixty-six percent of all likely New Mexico voters viewed the governor favorably. Seventy percent of New Mexico men and 66 percent of the state’s women approve of Martinez, according to the Rasmussen poll. Fifty-eight percent of New Mexico Hispanics...

First, the bad news for Democrats. Another seat that they hoped to defend with a relatively moderate incumbent will instead go open in a state that has grown more Republican. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) will end his Senate career at four terms: Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, announced Friday he will not seek a fifth term. The New Mexico Democrat’s announcement complicates the efforts of Democrats to hold the Senate’s majority in 2012. In 2008, Democrats won the other New Mexico Senate seat when Tom Udall won the open seat from retiring Republican incumbent...