Vigil-Giron
And I was supposed to be outta here for a while, recuperating from Campaign 04' and swearing off the Alligator email and phone calls. (You too). Well, I will be gone for a couple of days, but KOB-TV's Neil Simon, who apparently has no cure for his addiction to La Politica, is still hot on the trail and breaking election news that has also caught my eye.

Our quarry: Dem Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and that huge advertising buy featuring her that you could not miss if you tried. In a late night phone rap from his hideaway cellar office in the Eyewitness Newsroom, Simon and I noted that Rebecca spent a jaw dropping two million bucks on radio and TV ads in the name of "voter education." Incredibly, that just about equals the total buy of big spending congressional winner Heather Wilson.

Simon reports that the money came from the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and NM's share came in at $19 million. Most of that, says Rebecca, will go to voting machines and software. But because much of her TV spot was taken up by her mentioning her own name, Simon quizzed me on what my Alligators have been saying about Vigil-Giron's political future.

What they've been saying Neil is that Rebecca, who can't run for another term, is casting about for something, anything to run for. But Kerry didn't win which means Udall stays in the northern congressional seat keeping her out of there. How about Light Guv? Well, Big Bill is running for re-election, (or at least we think he will, unless Sen. Bingaman steps aside) and that means Diane Denish stays. So Rebecca's big TV push may have built a lot of name ID but right now she looks like a woman without a race to run.

Meanwhile, the GOP critics are hitting her for spending more money on TV than the Secretary of State in Ohio where the voting population is over five million. Simon says (really, Simon says) sources in the Bernalillo County Clerk's office are harping that they have not seen much of that HAVA money and wonder when its coming. Of course, Clerk Herrera and Rebecca have been on the cat path, as Mary makes it clear she will run for Rebecca's job in 06'.

HERE COMES THE JUDGE

Well, there's no better way to leave things for a couple of days than with some musings from the witty and urbane NM Court of Appeals Judge Rod Kennedy. Writes R Rod: "I think there really is a conspiracy between Richardson and Vigil-Giron to shave Bush's NM vote margin. If they get it down to about 200, Richardson can fire that many Republican state employees and tell the Democratic National Committee he's taken care of the problem."

Why can't we have more aging hippies like Rod on our high courts? I admit I voted to retain Kennedy, but only after running into him at Wal-Mart where he was complaining about the prices. Being Irish and cheap are things I understand.

See you back here in a couple of days and, as always, thanks for your support, praise and punches. They are all welcome at jmonahan@ix.netcom.com. There's an email link at the top of the page. I am outta here....

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2004
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