ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: SENATE? HOUSE?

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Oct. 21, 2004

State Sen. Joe Carraro, R-Albuquerque, thought he had a safe glide to election day with no opponent in his re-election bid for his Senate District 23 seat.

Or so he thought.

This week Carraro found a political postcard in his mailbox that gave him a start.

It was from New Mexico Progressive Action, a liberal PAC, seeking votes for Democrat Janice Kando for Senate District 23.

“All these people kept calling me up saying, ‘Joe, you need any help in the campaign,’ “ Carraro said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “I kept telling them I was unopposed, but they said they thought I had an opponent.”

Carraro said after he got the postcard he called the state Bureau of Elections just to make sure.

In reality, Kando, a family physician with a Corrales address, is running for the seat in House District 23, against Republican incumbent Rep. Eric Youngberg.

Carraro said he’s not sure whether Kando or her supporters actually thought she was running against him.

Apparently that’s not the case. Though Kando couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday, her website makes it clear she’s running for the House. “NM House District 23” is even part of her campaign logo.

David Duhigg, treasurer of New Mexico Progressive Action, whose name appeared on the cards, couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

Easy races

Carraro said that while it’s good not to have to worry about campaigning he almost wishes he did have an opponent. “I’m going to win, but I’m not going to beat my record,” Carraro said. That record was in 2000 when Carraro won 83 percent of the vote against a Libertarian opponent in the general election.

Actually the state legislative races could use a lot more competition. This year 25 of the 42 Senate seats have only one candidate running. There are 13 unopposed Republican senators and 12 unopposed Democrats. And despite rumors to the contrary, not all of those are running for Senate president pro tem.

This is up from 19 races with only one name on the ballot in 2000.

It’s a similar picture on the House side where 43 of the 70 seats are uncontested this year. Twenty five of those are Democrats while 18 are Republicans.

Poll dancing

Because of an agreement with Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, MSNBC and Knight-Ridder newspapers, we can’t tell you the result of the latest New Mexican/KOB-TV poll on the presidential race until Friday’s paper.

But in the meantime, for the benefit of all you poll junkies out there, another statewide poll of New Mexico voters was released Wednesday.

American Research, Inc., an independent firm based in New Hampshire, shows Sen. John Kerry at 48 percent to President Bush’s 46 percent. Ralph Nader has one percent in this poll, while five percent are undecided.

Although Kerry has a slight edge, it is well within the 4 percent margin of error.

The bad news for Kerry is that he was up by five percent in the AMG New Mexico poll a month ago and ahead by seven points two months ago.

AMG polled 600 likely voters in the state. Interviews were conducted Saturday through Monday.

LIBERALS WALK AMONG US

A version of this story was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Oct. 20, 2004

When the Kerry campaign announced this week that their candidate would be appearing in Las Cruces, the state Bush campaign responded with an e-mail statement from spokesman Danny Diaz that began, "John Kerry's attempt to run from his liberal record is taking him to Las Cruces this weekend."

The prominent use of the word "liberal" is consistent with a tried-and-true Republican strategy. In the final debate between President Bush and Kerry last week, Bush repeatedly used the "L-word" to hammer Kerry.

And of course the word "liberal" is used quite liberally in Republican political commercials, which have been bombarding New Mexico and other swing states this year. (The recently released report of the Nielsen Monitor-Plus and The University of Wisconsin Advertising Project shows Albuquerque to be the number two market in the United States for campaign ads, second only to Miami, Fla. during the period of September 24 - October 7.)

References such as "John Kerry and the liberals in Congress" are aired constantly here in an attempt to persuade voters to reject Kerry.

Syndicated columnist Robert Sheer recently wrote a piece that said, "I like liberals. They gave us the five-day workweek; ended child labor; invented unemployment insurance, Social Security and Medicare; and led us, despite fierce opposition from 'America First' pseudo-patriots on the political right, to victory over fascism in World War II. Liberals also ended racial segregation and gave women the vote."

However, a new poll for The New Mexican and KOB-TV illustrate why Kerry and other Democrats don't try to reclaim the word liberal as something positive. The poll shows that the "liberal" label hurts far more than it helps.

Mason-Dixon Polling and Research of Washington, D.C. asked 625 likely voters statewide last week, "If a candidate describes themselves as "liberal", does that make you more likely to vote for them, less likely to vote for them, or do such labels have no real effect on your vote?"

Twenty eight percent said they would be less likely to vote for a self-described liberal. Only seven percent said they would be more likely to vote for an admitted liberal. Of the remaining voters, 62 percent said there would be no effect, while 3 percent said they were unsure.

The results were predictable among supporters of Bush and Kerry. Of the Bush supporters, 53 percent said the liberal label would make them less likely to vote for a candidate while none said it would make them more likely. Of the Kerry supporters, 17 percent said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate calling himself "liberal," while only one percent said less likely."

Undecided voters - who are the target audience for all the campaign ads - tend not to like the description of liberal. None said they'd be more likely to vote for a self-described liberal, while 22 percent said it would make them less likely to vote for such a candidate.

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that "liberal" in the past 35 years or so, has become a "radioactive" word.

"I believe it's a reaction to the excesses of the '60s," Sabato said. "It was the era of riots, assassinations, Vietnam, overspending. It's a reaction against the attitude that if we throw enough money at a problem we'll solve it."

Sabato said the word has been poison since about 1968.

New Mexico pollster Brian Sanderoff, in an interview Tuesday, said that 1968 might be the last time any presidential used the word in a positive way.

Sanderoff, who operates Research and Polling Inc. of Albuquerque, said that Hubert Humphrey, running for president that year against Richard Nixon, had a commercial that had a man-in-the-street saying Humphrey was "a good liberal man."

Sanderoff said when Republicans repeatedly use the word "liberal" to tarnish an opponent, they are playing directly to conservative-to-moderate Democrats and independents.

"New Mexico has 32 percent Republicans and 51 percent Democrats," he said. To win, Republican candidates must appeal to "Anglo moderate to conservative Democrats. That's who really decides elections in this state."

Albuquerque consultant Doug Turner - who has worked for several Republican campaigns including that of former Gov. Gary Johnson - said Tuesday that Republican candidates label their opponents as "liberals" to appeal to a more conservative base.

"Republicans have spent a lot of energy drawing negative associations to that word," Turner said. "People have to put their views and perspectives into 30-second spots and drive it over again and again and again."

Turner is not currently working for any campaigns. His business now concentrates on corporate public relations.

Turner, Sanderoff and Sabato agreed that Democrats haven't been successful at making "conservative" a charged word.

"Many Hispanics, who always vote Democrat describe themselves as 'conservative,' Sanderoff said. "And they are on many social issues."

However some Democrat ads use the description "right-wing" to describe their conservative opponents. " 'Right-wing' means 'extreme,' out of the mainstream," Sabato said.

"Democrats will point out that their Republican opponents 'always vote with the Republican leadership,' "

Sanderoff said. "That's an appeal to those conservative-to-moderate Democrats. It's telling them, 'You don't want someone who votes with the Republican leadership all the time.' "

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAY LIST

Sunday, Oct. 17, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now Webcasting
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
I'm in Love Again by Fats Domino
Get Ready For Love by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Starry Eyes by Roky Erikson with Luanne Barton
More of You by The Fleshtones
Where Were You by The Mekons
Puddin' Truck by NRBQ
You're My Girl by Neil Young
Mr. Soul by Buffalo Springfield

My Name is Mud by Primus
One Reporter's Opinion by The Minutemen
That Gum You Like Is Back in Style by Camper Van Beethoven
A Love Supreme by The Twilight Singers
Drugs (Electricity) by The Talking Heads
Sentimental Marching Song by Sally Timms
All in a Day by Joe Strummer
Hornet's Heart by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282

Waitin' For Waits by Richie Cole
Don't Go Into That Barn by Tom Waits
Murder in the Red Barn by John Hammond
Heart Attack and Vine by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Way Down in the Hole by The Blind Boys of Alabama
Dead and Lovely by Tom Waits

Patriot's Heart by American Music Club
Demons and Fiends by Robyn Hitchcock
Step Into the Light by Mavis Staples
Not Alone Anymore by The Traveling Wilburys
Wind Chimes by Brian Wilson
Carrickfergus by Van Morrison & The Chieftains
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAY LIST

The Santa Fe Opry
Friday, October 15, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Lower 48 by The Gourds
Cussin' in Tongues by The Legendary Shack Shakers
Why You Always Cheatin' On Me? by Nancy Apple

Nancy Apple Live Set

Bears in the Woods
My Boyfriend
Table For Two, Dinner For One
Angel Cried
Pride
You're the Reason
Shoulda Lied About That
Fruit of the Vine
Truck Driver's Woman

Midnight Rodeo by Cordell Jackson
Honey Do by John Fogerty
Honey Don't by The Beatles
Home to Houston by Steve Earle
Tuskegee Pride by Jason Ringenberg
Let's Live Together by Robbie Fulks
I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine by Elvis Presley
Next Stop Santa Fe by Sid Hausman & Washtub Jerry
Wrong by Splitlip Rayfield

Town by The Dashboard Saviors
Music Man by Hank & Nancy Webster
Two Seconds by Laura Cantrell
Somewhere in My Heart by The Volebeats
I'm Falling in Love Again by Willie Nelson
Sold American by Kinky Friedman
Jacob's Ladder by Greg Brown
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

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