Is New Mexico a swing state again? Well, probably not.
---
Public Policy Polling
released the presidential results of its poll in New Mexico
. It showed that Barack Obama's lead over Mitt Romney is just five percent. This is closer to the razor-thin margins of Bush/Gore and Bush/Kerry than the blowout of Obama/McCain.
As with any poll in any race, you have to caution that it is just one poll. Looking at the average of all polls in a race will always be more accurate than relying on any one poll. If other polls start to show Romney closing the gap, then maybe New Mexico will move towards swing state status. But also expect it to mean those devastating ads tying Romney to Bain capital that have been helping Obama in other states will start showing up on news broadcasts in New Mexico.
One interesting thing to note about the poll -- it was of all New Mexico voters, not likely voters as other recent polls have been.
- The AP comes with a story that the fake audit is
- only a piece of the problems in the New Mexico Finance Authority
- .
- However, board member Paul Gutierrez said the problem was caused by management and the board failing to carry out their responsibilities. He pointed out there was never an "exit conference" between authority officials and the agency's outside auditor. That's supposed to happen before an audit is approved. However, the fraudulent documents included a faked letter from the auditor and a statement that an exit conference had been held last December — on a date that was a Saturday. The audit and its financial statements were made available to the investment community as part of a bond issuance by the authority in March.
- A Democratic source says if the bond rating is lowered that it will figure prominently in criticisms of Susana Martinez in the coming months and even years.
- There were
- some big clues that the audit wasn't real that no one caught
- .
- The forged 2011 findings report, which was copied word-for-word from the NMFA 2010 report, noted only one issue: The 2011 report was late.
However, the fake document was dated Dec. 10, 2011, five days before the state auditor’s Dec. 15 deadline for the document. - No one ever reads the fine print.
- The NMFA
- canceled its contract with the law firm hired to investigate the scandal
- so State Auditor Hector Balderas and the state Securities Division would not be penned in by the private firm. The investigation from the private firm was to cost $750,000.
- If you saw more attention on the U.S. Senate race on Wednesday, that is because Wilson spoke to reporters at a meeting put together by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
- The Wilson campaign team knows it is behind, despite their claims that the race is a "dead heat," and is
- going to go on the attack against Heinrich
- .
- "They don't know anything about him and he's only ahead by 3 points. Once they get to know more about him, I think that's going to be much more problematic," said Wilson pollster Glen Bolger as he spoke to reporters at the National Republican Senatorial Committee's offices in Washington. "On the other hand, there's not a lot new that Heinrich and the Democrats can say about her."
- Wilson's campaign would be one campaign that would be happy if Romney could keep New Mexico competitive and provide some sort of coattails for the former U.S. Representative.
- Also of interest from that Associated Press piece is that Wilson said she has "some concerns" about the Ryan plan (named after its creator, arch-conservative Paul Ryan, R-Wisc.). Previously, Wilson had not responded to questions about her stance on the controversial plan.
- However,
- from The Hill
- :
- But she avoided saying how she would have voted on this year's House Republican budget, sponsored by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), that would have cut Medicare spending and largely privatized the program.
- And CNN
- :
- "I haven't looked at his bill in a long time," she said, emphasizing that she's running for the Senate, not the House, and noted the chamber's failure to produce a budget in three years.
- State Sen. Howie Morales, D-Silver City, is
- the latest to have questions about the school grading system
- that recently was put in place.
- "I see schools with no difference in performance levels between the preliminary findings in January and the new ones, yet they dropped from an "A" to a "B" in six months. My concerns are with the formula and the lack of response to questions about how it works," said Morales, D-Silver City.
- The Martinez administration says the grades are clearer than ever.
- Meanwhile, teachers
- descended on Santa Fe to protest the school grading system
- . Here's
- the ABQ Journal take
- .
- The board of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government is going to speak to prominent Republican attorney Pat Rogers about
- his role as a member of the open government group's board
- . Rogers has been the focus of recent email links that show him conversing with Martinez administration officials about public business using private emails so as to evade the Inspection of Public Records Act. Republicans have declined to comment on the scandal except to say the emails were illegally obtained.
- Meanwhile, the state Republican Party wants an investigation into former Albuquerque mayor Martin Chavez and Democratic Party of New Mexico executive director Scott Forrester on
- using public funds for political purposes
- .
- The Santa Fe County Clerk and other officials
- spent thousands on travel to conferences despite a travel freeze
- by the county.
- Heath Haussamen
- gives his thoughts on the recent polling in New Mexico
- .
- Laura Paskus on LANL
- .
- The New Mexico Environment Department is going to
- look at pollution control alternatives for the massive San Juan Generating Station
- .
- Martinez will head to Washington (the state, not D.C.) to
- headline a fundraiser for the state's Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna
- .
- The New Mexico Supreme Court
- suspended Española’s municipal judge Stephen Salazar for 90 days
- for ordering a towing company to return a motorcycle that was seized as part of a criminal case in another court.
- Don't expect
- conservation legislation to go anywhere before November
- . Hell, don't expect conservation legislation to go anywhere as long as Republcians vote in a bloc against it. Republicans control the House of Representatives and have shown a willingness to filibuster all legislation in the U.S. Senate.
- A recorded phone conversation show an inmate
- bragging to his mother about beating his cellmate
- so bad the man had to go to the hospital. No word if the mother was proud.
- Man bites dog
- . No, seriously. A case of a man biting a dog, resulting in a brawl.
