FOOTBALL BUDDIES NO MORE?

Gov. Bill Richardson, in an interview on NPR this morning, said he and Bill Clinton might never kiss and make up over Richardson's choice to endorse Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton.

Have I heard from President Clinton? No. It could be pretty
much a permanent fissure. But, that's politics. That's okay," Richardson said.

"I'm still very fond of the Clintons," he said.

"I've reconciled with her, but with him — he wants to keep a grudge, that's fine with me,"

Richardson said, "I move on."

Listen yourself. The link is HERE.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: LOSING THE SWING

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Octobber 1, 2008

Does it still mean a thing if New Mexico loses its swing?

In recent years, political activists, political reporters and political junkies in this enchanted land have shared a certain pride that New Mexico in recent presidential elections, despite our modest stake of five electoral votes, has been a major swing state.

Could this be changing?

It’s true, we’ve seen candidate visits: John McCain in Albuquerque on Monday, Barack Obama in Española a few weeks ago.

But according to statistics from The Wisconsin Advertising Project, a creature of the University of Wisconsin Political Science Department, neither campaign seems to be spending that much money in the battle for New Mexico airwaves, at least compared with other battleground states.

According to a WAP news release Wednesday, Obama spent $185,000 on television advertising directed at New Mexico between Sept. 28 and Saturday, while, during the same period, McCain spent $144,000. In the 15 states in which both candidates are advertising, Obama spent more in 13 states than he did in New Mexico. McCain spent more in 14 states during this period.

Granted, you’re going to pay more for television ads in bigger states with larger populations and more TV markets than New Mexico. But states similar in size to New Mexico, such as Nevada and New Hampshire, are seeing more political ads than our state.

In 2004, WAP showed Albuquerque stations in late September and early October sold more political ad time to presidential candidates than any other market except Miami.

But this year, the Albuquerque television market, according to WAP, isn’t in the top 10 markets for either McCain or Obama. McCain’s top 10 list does include El Paso, whose television stations are watched by Southern New Mexico households. There, the Republican aired ads 474 times last week, making El Paso No. 8 in McCain’s top 10.

According to the study, Albuquerque ranked 20th for total political ads last week. The campaigns, the two political parties and outside groups attacking one candidate or the other bought a total of 960 airings on Albuquerque stations.

It’s not as if they’re not paying attention to the West. The top market for political ads was Las Vegas, Nev., (a total of 2,020 spots) while No. 2 was Denver (with 2,007 spots.)

Why aren’t the campaigns spending that much for New Mexico television ads?

When asked that question in a telephone interview Wednesday, Sarah Niebler, deputy director of The Wisconsin Advertising Project, said, “I can’t speak to the strategies of the campaigns.”

But she pointed to polling figures compiled by Pollster.com. Obama is leading McCain by 6 percentage points in New Mexico, according to Pollster, which averages several polls. In Nevada, Pollster shows Obama leading by less than 2 percentage points. In both Pollster and RealClearPolitics.com, another site that averages poll numbers, New Mexico for a few weeks has been listed as “leaning Obama” while Nevada continues to be a “tossup.”

So if McCain’s numbers start improving in New Mexico, expect to see more ads from both camps.

Beware of Tony: Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza told me this week that somebody out there is calling voters, falsely claiming to be from her office and trying to get Social Security numbers.

According to Espinoza, the calls are being made by a man who identifies himself as “Tony,” telling voters their voter registrations have been denied and asking them to dial a certain telephone number to clear it up. Those who call are asked for personal information such as Social Security numbers.

First of all, Espinoza says, that number is not associated with her office. She also said her office wouldn’t ask for such information over the phone.

Finally, she said, there’s nobody named Tony who works for her. “I even checked the temporary workers we hired, and there’s no Tony, she said.

Espinoza had some good advice that law enforcement officials frequently give: Don’t give strangers personal information over the phone. That’s a good way to get your identity stolen.

E-mailing the debate: I watched Tuesday’s presidential debate at a Santa Fe Community College watch party. Luckily, I wasn’t trying to keep up with my work e-mail. During the debate, and for a few minutes after it ended, I received 38 e-mails from the Obama campaign, most of them with the subject line “Debate Reality Check.”

Before the night was done, both sides sent out e-mail news releases declaring their candidate the winner.

For some reason, the McCain camp didn’t e-mail me its version of reality checks. I suspect I’m just not on that list.

But don’t worry, guys. I think my delete finger needs medical attention.

McCAIN'S ALBUQUERQUE SPEECH

My story on the Albuquerque event can be found HERE.

Being in the SUB Ballroom at UNM today brought back memories of past events I've seen there.

The first one was a Bo Diddley concert in August 1971 -- The King Kong Memorial Tribal Stomp. (I think that was the second annual KKMTS and perhaps the last one.) I also saw The Mahavishnu Orchestra there circa 1972. I got in trouble for opening an outside door and letting a bunch of hippies in for free. However, I didn't get kicked out of the show. They just made me sit away from the door.

The last presidential candidate I saw there also was a Republican -- Rep. Pete McCloskey, a Republican peace candidate (!) who challenged Richard Nixon in 1972. (His only delegate at the GOP convention that year was from New Mexico -- my old creating writing teacher Tom Mayer.)

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 5, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Dumb All Over by Frank Zappa
Waves of Fear by Lou Reed
Tapiocra Tundra by The Monkees
Surfin' Dead by The Cramps
Punk Slime by The Black Lips
Tales of Terror by Mudhoney
Hard Workin' Man by Captain Beefheart
Justine by The Righteous Brothers

Welfare Bread by King Khan & The Shrines
What Have You Done For Me Lately by Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
Gator Tail by Lee Dorsey
I'm Insane by T-Model Ford
Down In the Valley by Solomon Burke
Mamma Get the Hammer by Barrence Whitfield
Nasty by The Diplomats of Solid Soul

The Chase by Chaino
Strong Man Holler by Taj Mahal
For God's Sake Give Power to the People by The Chi-Lites
Satisfied Fool by Nathaniel Meyer
My Back Scratcher by Frank Frost
Jon E. Edwards Mood by Jon E. Edwards
All in the Mood by Howlin' Wolf
Pettin' and Pokin' by Louis Jordon

Today's Lesson by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Saw Your Name in the Paper by Loudon Wainwright III
The Dolphins by Richie Havens
Muck Machine by Giant Sand
The Donor by Judee Sill
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

McCAIN IN ALBUQUERQUE MONDAY

This just in:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain will be in Albuquerque Monday for a rally at the UNM Student Union Building.

This will be the first candidate visit to the state since Barack Obama appeared in Espanola a couple of weeks ago.

The doors open at 11:30 p.m. and the rally starts at 1:30 pm.

I don't have any information about what to do if you want to attend, but I'll update this post when or if I find out.

UPDATE: According to a NM MCCain spokeswoman, it's first-come/ first-serve. People can get tickets at McCain's Albuquerque headquarters at 5643 Jefferson N.E. The office will close at 9 pm today. For more information, call 505-715-4330