THE LATEST DEM DEBATE

My analysis of Gov. Richardson's performance at last night's debate at Dartmouth is HERE.

No lethal slip-ups on his part, but no "home runs" either. As usual his time was limited and he was overshadowed by the top three, but at the debate and in most of the coverage I've seen so far.

(The photo here is one I took at an earlier debate in New Hampshire.)

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: DOMENICI'S DIMINISHING APPROVAL NUMBERS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 27, 2007

Republican spokesmen this week were quick to downplay the SurveyUSA poll that showed U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici’s approval rating sinking to historic lows. But a New Mexico pollster said Tuesday that Domenici supporters shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the poll.


The poll, conducted last week of 600 New Mexicans, showed a drop of 11 percent in one month and 27 points in the past 10 months for the state’s senior senator, who faces re-election last year.

“This is so far removed from our own professional survey research it verges on ludicrous,” Domenici spokesman Chris Gallegos said. (Of course, the senator’s internal polling has not been made public.)

State GOP spokesman Scott Darnell was equally adamant. He emailed me a couple of recent examples in which SurveyUSA showed “winners” of Congressional races who later turned out to be losers.

Albuquerque pollster Brian Sanderoff said he has some real qualms about SurveyUSA’s data-collection methods. The company uses automated calls instead of live human interviews. The poll sample consists of “adult residents” — not likely voters or even registered voters.

But, Sanderoff said, “I’ve got quibbles with their methodology, but SurveyUSA has a pretty good track record.”

Sanderoff, president of New Mexico Research & Polling, Inc., said he recently took it upon himself to study SurveyUSA polls from the last election around the country. “They were usually pretty close,” he said.

Based in New York, SurveyUSA is the only company that performs monthly tracking polls in all 50 states on U.S. senators, governors and the president. In New Mexico the tracking polls are sponsored by KOB-TV.

It might be questioned whether Domenici’s approval rating is quite as low as 41 percent, Sanderoff said. “When you see a significant drop like that in one month it makes you think twice.”

But, he said that SurveyUSA uses the same method every month, so even if 41 percent isn’t the correct number, it shows a trend that should concern Domenici.

Sanderoff said he believes the Iraq War is the main cause of Domenici’s diminishing approval numbers. A national anti-war group purchased television and radio ads targeting Domenici’s support of the war and President Bush.

“This is the first election in which Domenici’s been tied to the war,” Sanderoff said. “The last time he ran was in 2002.”

Bad polls: Darnell, when asked about the Domenici poll Tuesday night said that if you believed SurveyUSA, Patricia Madrid would be in Congress today, not Heather Wilson.

Indeed in a poll on the eve of last year’s general election, Survey USA showed Madrid leading Wilson by two percentage points. Wilson went on to win that race by less than 900 votes.

But the actual results came well within the poll’s 3.8 percent margin of error.

Another race Darnell point to was a run-off in a special Congressional election in Texas last year, where SurveyUSA just two days before the election showed incumbent Republican Henry Bonilla beating Democratic challenger Ciro Rodriguez 51 percent to 47 percent. But when the votes were counted, Rodriguez clobbered Bonilla by a nine-point margin — way outside the poll’s 4.3 percent margin of error.

“They’ve had a few bad calls in some races,” Sanderoff said. “We all have.” He noted his own WIlson/Madrid poll also showed Madrid ahead.

“But approval numbers are far easier to predict than elections,” Sanderoff said. Close elections, he said often are determined by who has the best organization and get-out-the-vote effort and by uncontrollable external circumstances, such as bad weather.

Taking credit: One announced Democratic candidate for Domenici’s job had an immediate public reaction to the poll. In an e-mail statement Jim Hannan of Santa Fe basically took credit for the poll plunge.

It's clear that my campaign is having an effect. When I started the race in March, Pete was at 68 percent. Now he's at 41 percent.” Hannan wrote. “Since George W. Bush is at about 25 percent, and Pete has supported Bush on everything, it's clear that his numbers will continue to decline.”

Actually Domenici was at 68 percent last November. In March, after the U.S. Attorney scandal broke, Domenici’s approval rating had gone down to 57 percent. And while Hannan is right that Bush’s numbers are lower than Domenici’s, SurveyUSA’s latest New Mexico poll on the president shows Bush’s approval rating at 34 percent.

Please pass the elephant butter: A curious news release came out of the lieutenant governor’s office this week, and I’m betting a computer spellcheck program is the culprit.

An announcement of Lt. Gov. Diane Denish meeting with leaders in southern New Mexico communities stated, “The Dona Ana Colonias Leadership has been concerned about the Helena Chemical Plant, economic and residential leadership and a surface-water treatment facility it is doing with the Elephant Butter Irrigation District.”

Maybe it’s time to butter up the folks at Elephant Butte.

DOMENICI'S POLL SLIDE

My story about U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici's huge drop in the SurveyUSA tracking poll can be found HERE.

The poll itself is HERE and you can see Domenici's numbers since May 2005 HERE.

There are legit questions about automated polling and you can never put too much stock in a single poll. But this could be an indicator of a very interesting election ahead.

BIG NEWS! STEVE TERRELL'S WATER BILL!

I've learned that my good friends at the Santa Fe Reporter will include my water bill in what I guess is an annual report on water usage in Santa Fe.

I'm not sure if I'll be portrayed as a responsible citizen or an evil water hog. I might have brought this on myself by feigning being hurt I wasn't included last year when the Reporter published my former colleague (now Journal North editor) Mark Oswald's water bill and not mine.

If it's anybody's business, I pay about $40 a month for my water, sewage and garbage bill. It went up a little bit this year because I planted a tree in my back yard. I also water flowers in two pots in my tiny front yard and ever so often the other plants in the front. I don't have a lawn. I take daily showers, wash my clothes and dishes. Sometimes I make spaghetti, which requires me to boil water.

That's the news.

UPDATE: (9-26-07) Looks like the SFR water story didn't run this week. Oh well, check it next week to get to the truth about my water bill.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, September 23, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

SUPPORT THE KSFR FUNDRAISER! PLEDGE NOW!
Call 428-1393 (local) or 1-866-907-5737 (toll free)

Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and out new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
All Been Planned by Wayne Kramer & David Was
Thirsty and Miserable by Black Flag
Six Pack by the Dirty Projectors
Rain on Down by Drywall
The Idiot Kings by Soul Coughing
Free Radicals by The Flaming Lips
Woly Bully by The Butthole Surfers
Dumb All Over by Frank Zappa

Livin' in My Skin by The Pretty Things
Gypsy Plays His Drums by The Seeds
Sweet Potato by The Gore Gore Girls
A Certain Guy by Mary Weiss
I Saw a Ghost (Lean) by The Black Lips
Steady with Betty by The A-Bones
Goodbye My Roller Girl by Mummy the Peep Show
Harem in Tuscany by Gogol Bordello
The Penalty by Beirut

Hico Killer by John Zorn with Albert Collins
Bo Meets the Monster by Bo Diddley
Shining Pains by Soel
Kickback by George Clinton
To the Left to the Right by T-Model Ford & Big Oomp
Thunderbird (Part 2) by Ravi Harris & The Prophets
Grinnin' in Your Face by James Blood Ulmer

Shadow Government by They Might Be Giants
Humanoid Boogie by Bonzo Dog Band
Sea of Sounds by Sun Ra
Barton Fink by Kazik
I Trained Her to Love Me by Nick Lowe
Go Home Girl by Frank Black & Gary U.S. Bonds
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, September 21, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and our new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org


OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Tennessee Valentine by Amy LaVere
Rolling Stone by Billy Joe Shaver
Honky Tonk Lifestyle by Cornell Hurd
Cathead Biscuits & Gravy by Rob McNurlin & Nancy Apple

NANCY APPLE LIVE SET
Happy Birthday
Chariot Wheels
You're the Reason
Sun Will Always Shine
Sings With Me
Angel Cried
Moonlight Over Memphis
Should Have Lied About That (recorded version)
Blue
Fruit of the Vine

Cowboy in Flames by The Waco Brothers
Twisted by Pink Filth
Sinners & Saints by George Jones
House of Shame by Porter Wagoner
Lullabys, Legends & Lies by Bobby Bare
Good BBQ by The Riptones
Double Line by Heavy Trash
It Ain't Me by Ray Campi
Tennessee Woman by Charlie Musselwhite

Leonard Cohen's Day Job by The Austin Lounge Lizards
Closing Time by Leonard Cohen
Dying Crapshooters Blues by Michael Hurley
The Hope and The Anchor by The Mekons
Farmer's Blues by Marty Stuart & Merle Haggard
Million Dollar Bail by Peter Case
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: HELLO, I'M JOHNNY CASH!

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 21, 2007

Four years after his death, Johnny Cash is still rightfully being honored for his music. But his younger devotees might not be aware of his TV career in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Cash had a weekly variety show, broadcast live from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, which was the home of the Grand Ole Opry. Johnny would come out and sing songs along with his road troupe — wife June Carter Cash, Mother Maybelle Carter and the Carter Sisters, the Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins — and guest acts.

By the mid-’70s, the variety-show format all but sank under the weight of raw tackiness — The Sonny and Cher Show, Donnie and Marie, The Captain and Tennille — and the form never recovered.

But Johnny’s show was an exception; it featured some of the finest musicians — not only in country music but in rock, folk, and soul. Examples include Neil Young, Neil Diamond, Tammy Wynette, Stevie Wonder, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ray Charles, George Jones, Derek & the Dominos, Bill Monroe, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, and The Everly Brothers (with their dad, Ike Everly).

It was entertainment. But it was more.

“While a war in Vietnam divided America, a revolution on television brought us all back together,” a narrator intones at the beginning of the new two-disc DVD The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show: 1969-1971, released on Sept. 18. “It was a time when reality TV meant TV that was real.”

Indeed, it was. Cash used his 30-minute weekly show to bridge generational, cultural, and racial divides in a nonthreatening way during a turbulent time. Today it wouldn’t seem that radical or unusual to see a country singer like Cash team with a “folk rocker” like Bob Dylan.

But believe me, in 1969 a large number of country fans equated rock musicians with dope-smoking, war-protesting, hippie weirdos (I can’t imagine why) — and rock fans equated country musicians with racist redneck warmongers. So it was a big deal when Dylan was the guest star on Cash’s first episode. Dylan sang a countryish tune called “I Threw It All Away,” then joined Cash for a duet on “Girl From the North Country,” (a song that the two had recorded for Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, which had only recently been released when the show aired).

One of the finest performances here is Cash singing “Blue Yodel No. 9” with Louis Armstrong playing trumpet beside him. This was a conscious re-creation of the time Armstrong made a recording with country-music forefather Jimmie Rodgers in 1930. Cash recognized how remarkable the Satchmo/Singing Brakeman team-up was — an underrecognized and amazingly daring milestone of racial integration during the terrible era of Jim Crow. Singing the song with Armstrong on television was a sweet way to reaffirm the importance of that moment in American music history.

Cash’s choice of politically diverse guests reflected his desire to heal a divided nation. He had on fellow country star Merle Haggard, who at the time was known for his hippie-bashing hits “Okie From Muskogee” and “The Fightin’ Side of Me.”

But Cash also welcomed Pete Seeger. A few years earlier, Seeger had been forbidden to play on the network folk-music show Hootenanny because of his indictment for contempt of Congress — he refused to discuss his political affiliations during the McCarthy-era witch hunts of the ’50s. Neither Haggard nor Seeger sang political songs on the show (and no, they didn’t appear together, which would have been extremely revolutionary TV). But Cash wasn’t out to agitate. His goal was to find common ground.

Still, Cash was not above preaching his social gospel. This DVD set includes a segment about the mistreatment of American Indians, including the song “As Long as the Grass Shall Grow,” a tune from Cash’s concept album about Indians, Bitter Tears.

Grainy film segments show Cash out among long-haired college students, talking honestly about issues like drugs. One kid asked whether there was a problem with drugs in the music industry. “Well, there was at this end of the music industry,” Cash says before telling of “courting death” with his own drug intake in earlier days. On the DVD, this segment is followed immediately by Neil Young singing “The Needle and the Damage Done.”

And there is some literal preaching too, with Cash talking unabashedly about his love for Jesus and singing gospel tunes like “Daddy Sang Bass.”

But, of course, the Cash show was not all social commentary. Mostly, it was just plenty of great music and honest television. Cash sings “Polk Salad Annie” with Tony Joe White and a young, clean-shaven Waylon Jennings sings Chuck Berry’s “Brown Eyed Handsome Man.”

This was live TV, so the goofs weren’t edited out. Joni Mitchell blows the lyrics of “Long Black Veil,” but maintains her composure like a pro. Cash veers off course toward the end of “Man in Black” — which was the first time he sang the song in public — singing the end of one verse as if it were the end of the song, then catching himself and going on. But that doesn’t detract from the emotional punch of the tune.

My only complaint with this compilation is that the show is interrupted just a little too frequently by people like Kris Kristofferson and Cash’s son talking about how important, groundbreaking, and special the show was. Not that it isn’t true, it’s just that the footage itself makes a better case.

The Santa Fe Opry: Country music as the good Lord and Johnny Cash intended it to sound, with special guest Nancy Apple, all the way from Memphis: 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21, on KSFR-FM 90.7 FM and 101.1 FM. Terrell’s Sound World, free-form weirdo radio, same time, same station, this Sunday night, Sept 23.

Blog Bonus: Here's a Youtube of the cash/Satchmo duet that I posted here a few months ago. (It looks and sounds a lot better on the DVD, but this will give you an idea.)

BEATLE BOB IS A FRIEND OF MINE

Thanks to Chuck for alerting me to this nine-minute "documentary teaser" on Beatle Bob, the celebrated dancing fool -- and I mean that only in the nicest way -- of St. Louis.

He's usually at South by Southwest in Austin. But I don't think he's ever been to New Mexico.

This video doesn't really dig deep into Beatle Bob's personal life or anything. But apparently there's a full-fledged documentary by Jenni Serling in the works.

So for now, just be teased. Check out the testimony by Mojo Nixon at the end of the video.




Beatle Bob joins the Waco Brothers, South by Southwest 2006

A SHRINE TO BUKOWSKI?

My former colleague T.J. Sullivan wrote this impressive blog piece after tripping over some breathless hyperbole in Time Magazine about an effort to preserve Bukowski's East Hollywood bungalow. Apparently the phrase "cultural earthquake" gave him the same acid reflux I get when some dimwit hype peddler declares some rock star a "legend."

Really? A place in which Bukowski flopped and farted on a regular basis is the epicenter of a cultural quake that continues to rock LA's literary landscape? What magnitude are we talking?

The Time article, one you pull yorself out of the rubble of the earthquake, really isn't bad. But, I think Bukowski would have appreciated T.J.'s piece.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: BRING ON THE PSAs

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 20, 2007

If you think you’ve been seeing a lot of Lt. Gov. Diane Denish lately, maybe you’re watching too much late-night television.

Denish, like several New Mexico politicians before her, frequently pops up in public service announcements — those noncommercial commercials that television stations run to fulfill their “public service” requirements.

A Denish spokeswoman, Kate Nelson, insists these have nothing to do with the fact the lieutenant governor is running for governor in 2010.

Denish taped a spot about adoption for the state Children Youth and Families Department. There’s one for Insure New Mexico — a task force created by Gov. Bill Richardson and chaired by Denish that has studied ways to increase the number of people with health insurance in the state.

In the past, she has appeared in at least two PSAs for the state Department of Transportation through the New Mexico Broadcasters Association, aimed at discouraging underage drinking, plus another DOT spot aimed at first-time drunken-driving offenders.

Plus, Nelson said, Denish has lent her voice to a few radio spots for various causes, including a recent one plugging an event for an organization concerned with breast cancer.

A few television PSAs are still in the can. Nelson said the state Taxation and Revenue Department asked Denish to tape some spots to inform people about a new driver’s license issuance process that won’t be unveiled until the spring.

All of this face time on television screens might bring back memories of other state officials — former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, former Attorney General Patricia Madrid and Land Commissioner Pat Lyons, all of whom appeared in PSAs in recent years to plug various programs or causes. Critics charged the officials were using taxpayer money to promote their own careers by building their name recognition — a charge all three vehemently denied.
As does Denish.

“She already has name recognition,” Nelson said. “That’s one reason why these agencies ask her to do these.”

Denish doesn’t accept every invitation to make a public service announcement, Nelson said. “Just the issues she’s personally interested in.”

If PSAs become an issue for Denish in the 2010 race, she won’t be alone. Earlier this year The Albuquerque Tribune reported that Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez — a probable primary opponent for Denish — did the voice-over for a city-produced 30-minute documentary called Shaping the Future: Albuquerque’s Economic Success, which some suggested was a thinly disguised campaign ad. (To which Chávez protested, in the Tribune in July, “I’m not a candidate for anything.”)

Corruption list: The three Republican members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation made a nonprofit organization’s list of what it considers the 22 most corrupt members of Congress.

U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici and U.S. Reps. Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce were included in the third annual “Beyond DeLay” report by a Washington, D.C., group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW.

Domenici and Wilson were included for making phone calls to former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias — calls that Iglesias interpreted as pressure to bring corruption charges against a prominent Democrat, former state Sen. Manny Aragon of Albuquerque, before the 2006 election. This allegedly would have helped Wilson in her close re-election contest with Madrid. (Aragon eventually was charged, earlier this year, with several felony counts.) Both Domenici and Wilson repeatedly have denied they tried to pressure Iglesias.

CREW earlier this year filed complaints against Domenici and Wilson over the Iglesias matter.

As for Pearce, CREW alleges the congressman from Southern New Mexico failed to report the 2003 sale of the assets of Lea Fishing Tools Inc., of which he was president, on his financial disclosure statements.

CREW also criticized Pearce for backing a plan to open Southern New Mexico’s Otero Mesa to oil-and-gas drilling while taking more than $78,000 in campaign contributions from the Yates family — which is involved in the oil business and traditionally is a big GOP contributor in the state.

A Pearce spokesman released a statement that said: “They don’t have their facts correct. Rep. Pearce filed an accurate financial disclosure statement and all of Mr. Pearce’s assets and transactions were correctly reported as law required. There has been no violation of the Ethics in Government Act and Mr. Pearce stands by the documents on record. ... It is appalling that a group which claims to promote ethics and accountability would publish outright lies.”

Investigation heating up?: An “independent journalism” Web site called Truthout reported Wednesday that the Senate Ethics committee investigation of Domenici over the Iglesias case is heating up.

“According to some senior staffers working for lawmakers who sit on the Ethics Committee, the six-month preliminary investigation into Domenici has turned up enough evidence to open a formal, public investigation into the New Mexico senator,” the Web site says.

However, Truthout said it’s not clear whether a formal investigation will be filed.