He's got the cash, but will he know how to spend it? That's the issue for Dem Richard Romero as he gears up for his second run against incumbent ABQ GOP Congresswoman Heather Wilson. Romero has raised an impressive $400,000 since beginning his effort against Heather, $180,000 in the past three months, and he has $300,000 left in the bank. That ain't hay, but it can burn up like hay if he isn't careful.

Political pros monitoring the race tell me Romero needs to spend a good chunk of that dough on TV ads in May hammering Heather. And, they say, he needs to focus particularly on her solid support with senior citizens. "Richard needs to go after Heather on Social Security and Medicare, and crack her support with the old folks," said one observer close to the action.

Before State Senate President Pro Tem Romero gets to take on Heather one-one one he needs to get thru a pesky Dem primary against ER doctor Miles Nelson and retired DEA agent Eli Chavez. That will be no problem as Nelson and Chavez have empty piggy banks while Richard's is bulging. "Romero can't waste time on them. He needs to frame the race between Heather and him right away. Two years ago he did not have the money to do that, now he does." commented another congressional watcher.

Romero was landlslided by Wilson two years ago, losing by over ten points. She has well over half a million bucks in her campaign kitty already and a couple million more to come. Romero's long hours on the phone and the support of Big Bill in raising money has paid off. But it was the minimum he needed to do to have any chance at all against entrenched Heather. Like they say, he has the ball and a chance to score early. Let's see what he does.

BACON: ALWAYS ON THE POLITICAL MENU

ABQ City Council Prez Michael Cadigan, on the firing line over the road boondoggles in his ever-growing west side district, e-mailed a response to our March 25 report (see archives) in which some of his opponents were sniping at him over the loss of the city bonds last October, and in particular, the defeat of the bond money to extend Paseo Del Norte in the area of the Petroglyph National Monument.


The Prez writes: "Please keep in mind that the bond failed because voters in other parts of town turned it down. Voters in my district approved it by an overwhelming majority. Nevertheless, in the past few months, I have secured from the Governor $2 million for improvement of roads near Coors & I-40, $2 million for Unser, and I am working to have the Governor release $3.5 million for Paseo del Norte."

Dem Cadigan is working it hard because former police union chief Paul Pacheco and the GOP’s Sander Rue are both eying possible challenges to Cadigan, who broke into the blog news when he sent out a fundraising letter for the ABQ election last month even though the balloting isn't until October 2005. This week Big Bill has been playing politics with the Paseo extension, trying to pacify ardent environmental foes. But if the road remains stalled, quite unlikely, Cadigan and any politico in west side ABQ associated with the roadblock would more than likely be thrown out of office. The Westies have already talked about forming their own city so they can get roads built.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2004
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