Extremism in Campaign 04' went over the top late last week as the sitting Governor of the state of New Mexico was accused by the NM Republican Party of entering into a "conspiracy" to steal the election and throw the state's five electoral votes to John Kerry. The comments from the executive director of the state GOP were so bizarre that GOP Senator Pete Domenici was forced to call Big Bill and "disassociate" himself from the wild, unproved and uncalled for allegations.

The GOP offered up no evidence of a conspiracy. It was simply a firebomb thrown out to damage the reputation of the governor and cast doubt on the integrity of the election. The allegation was picked up by UPI and carried nationally, further damaging the state's image around the nation.

Domenici, who was gloating over the Bush NM win Wednesday morning, called Big Bill to cool things down. He also called GOP ex. director Greg Graves, who made the charge, and told him to back off. But some R's say it was Domenici's refusal to get involved in last year's intraparty warfare that is partially responsible for the chaos and extremism that has engulfed the state party. Now he is like the clean-up guy following around a circus elephant.

REAP WHAT YOU SOW

It's pretty sad to see Pete, dean of the NM GOP, beholden to a bunch of people who took over the GOP in the name of getting contracts and deals. For Pete and other moderate Republicans who have refused to act to unify the party, the chickens are coming home to roost. Extremism is not a guiding principle of the Republican Party, yet it has seemingly been sanctioned by the inaction.

Big Bill is a big boy. He doesn't need help defending himself. But the charges don't just damage him; they damage New Mexico. The Republican Party needs to come forward with a complete retraction and apology to the governor and the citizens of the state for the poisonous babble that passes as political dialogue. After that, maybe they can find the courage to do the right thing and reform a state party organization that is seemingly out-of-control.

THE ETERNAL COUNT

Without question the protracted vote count is riddled with incompetence and there is no excuse that we are so far behind the rest of the nation in vote counting. It's been this way for years, including the eight years that Republican Governor Johnson held power. This is a bipartisan disaster. The Legislature and Bernalillo County Commission also share blame. Big Bill appointed an election commission a year or so ago. What did they do?

As for the 2004 election result check my post below. It seems there are not enough votes outstanding to change the Bush win here. But Mr. And Mrs. New Mexico are so disgusted with the stuation they are probably wishing both Bush and Kerry could be declared losers and get this thing over with.

AT THE ROUNDHOUSE

Now that the dust has settled, Walt Rubel, writing in the Alamogordo Daily News has a complete round-up of the New Mexico Legislative races, complete with comments from Big Bill.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2004
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