NEW NM POLL SHOWS OBAMA TIED WITH McCAIN

The latest SurveyUSA poll shows Barrack Obama tied with John McCain 44-44 percent in a presidential match-up in New Mexico.

The automated phone poll, taken over the weekend of 600 registered voters in the state has several possible running mates of the two candidates.

Obama does best with John Edwards as his running mate. In fact without Edwards, Obama falls behind McCain in every other match-up. McCain does well with Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney as a running mate.

However, I believe these match-ups aren't very valuable at this stage. Edwards has high name recognition, as do Huckabee and Romney. Somehow I don't think Kathleen Sebelius and Tim Pawlenty are that well known here.

In fact, SurveyUSA honcho Jay Leve told me in an interview last month that the numbers in New Mexico will be going up and down for the candidates until the bitter end. "“Nothing in our polling suggests that a consensus has been formed (in New Mexico),” Leve said in April. “I expect a razor-thin margin.”

The margin of error is 4.1 percent.

IS THIS AN OPENING FOR A DOMENICI ENDORSEMENT?

Earlier this month on an interview on KNME's In Focus, U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici said he wouldn't be endorsing in the GOP Senate primary.

However, he did leave the door slightly ajar: ""Now, if something should happen untoward, where I think something was taken advantage of, I may change my mind, but that's pretty remote at this time."

On Monday Domenici called upon candidate Steve Pearce to demand The Club For Growth withdraw its new ad blasting Heather Wilson for support of the State Child Insurance Program (S-CHIP). (Read an Associated Press story HERE) Domenici voted in favor of the bill, which Pearce opposed and President Bush vetoed.

Could Domenici be thinking this ad is "untoward"?

UNIONS TO DISPUTE WIVIOTT AD

Several labor unions backing Ben Ray Luján for Congress are holding a news conference Tuesday to "set the record straight on Don Wiviott's misleading attacks on Ben Ray Luján."

An e-mailed news release doesn't give much of a hint as to what will be said at the news conference. It mainly says nice things about their candidate such as he's "has always stood up for the people of New Mexico with bold, progressive ideas and values. In Congress, he'll continue to put working families first."

Wiviott's ad blasts Luján for working as blackjack dealer in Nevada then getting a $90,000 state job the ad credits to Luján's "famous father" House Speaker Ben Luján. It also charges that the younger Luján missed 13 of 14 meetings of the "Healthcare Commission" -- actually something called the "Telehealth Commission," which is a board appointed by the governor.

The ad, which began running on TV on Saturday, does not appear on Wiviott's Web site for reasons I can;t figure out. The only known copy on the Web is on Heath Haussamen's blog and he's selfishly not sharing it. You'll have to CLICK HERE to see it.

Check Kate Nash's story in Tuesday's New Mexican.

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Speaking of the CD 3 Congressional race, our profiles of Harry Montoya, Jon Adams and Rudy Martin ran today.

Profiles of the Republican CD 3 candidates Marco Gonzales and Dan East are running Tuesday.

All these can be found on The New Mexican's Elections section.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 18, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Chicken Slacks by RIAA (Sam Cooke vs. Ray Stevens)
Hand on the Hot Wire by Key Francis
Killer Wolf by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Ain't That Just Like Me by The Astronauts
Who Buy The Guns by Joe "King" Carrasco y las Coronas
Don't Hold It Against Me by ? & The Mysterians
Oblivion by Mudhoney
Jibba Jab by Tic & Toc

Sixteen Tons by Stan Ridgway
As Long as I Have You by The Detroit Cobras
Wild Baby Wow by Lightning Beat-Man
Pachuco Cadaver by Captain Beefheart
Thunder Thighs by Andres Williams with the Diplomats of Solid Sound
Rock 'n' Roll Murder by The Leaving Trains
Chick Habit by April March
Stoned by The Rolling Stones

Is There Anybody Out There? (Bob's Nightmare) by Simon Stokes
Lucky Lucky Luck by Evangelista
Evil Alligator Man by Jad Fair
Talk to the Animals by Bobby Brodsky
Mr. Slater's Parrot by The Bonzo Dog Band
Zombie Dance by The Cramps

Ohio/Machine Gun by The Isley Brothers
Mission District by The Black Angels
Banghra Brothers by Firewater
La Faim de Haricots by Les Negresses Vertes
Cliquot by Beirut
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

CD 3 PROFILES

The New Mexican's profiles of candidates for Congressional District 3 begin running today.

My story about the race as a whole is HERE.

An issues questionannaire, consisting of 10 Yes-or-No questions is HERE.

My profile on Don Wiviott is HERE.

Kate Nash's profile of Ben Ray Luján is HERE.

Her profile of Benny Shendo, Jr. is HERE

The other Democratic candidates. Harry Montoya, Jon Adams and Rudy Martin will run Monday. The Republican candidates, Marco Gonzales and Dan East will run Tuesday.

Happy reading.