Valerie Plame

Celebrity combined with smarts can't be underestimated in modern politics but it's being put to the test in the race for the Democratic nomination for the northern congressional seat that will decide who succeeds Rep. Ben Ray Lujan in this heavy Dem district.

Valerie Plame stunned the crowded field with a boffo first TV ad and ran over her foes in the fund-raising department, garnering donations nationwide because of her status as a famous outed CIA spy. Now with the crucial March 7 preprimary convention nearing, where delegates will decide which contenders will get an official spot on the June 2 primary ballot, the long knives are coming out.

One of the sharpest was wielded by the NYT when it came with a piece that roughed Plame up over her tangled and controversial relationship with the nation's Jewish community. On the heels of that piece, Plame's chief Dem rival, attorney Teresa Leger Fernandez, (TLF) received yet more important endorsements including this one from the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club and another from the Latino Victory Fund. Earlier she scored the backing of Emily's List and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. (Not all of Plame's recent press has been bad. She got a hug in a profile by the Alibi).

Normally that might have been enough to claim the mantle of undisputed front-runner, but TLF lacks the celebrity of Plame as well as a known public service record. So while Plame wobbles from the blows, including the charge that she is an uninformed carpetbagger in the heavy Hispanic and Native American district, she has yet to hit the canvas.

Leger Fernandez

One thing does seem to be happening, however. The eight person race may be consolidating into a two way contest between Plame and Leger Fernandez. Santa Fe County District Attorney Marco Serna is the other key player but his performance has been unsteady.

All three have enough cash for major media buys which will be critical, given their unfamiliarity in the sprawling district. No one is going away anytime soon.

Consultants are urging Plame and other contenders to go after Leger Fernandez before she starts running away, saying her record as an attorney has not been vetted and there could be opposition gold there. As this exciting race moves forward, the long knives will now be cutting in many directions.

RONCHETTI AND TRUMP

Another celebrity candidacy, that of Mark Ronchetti, the former weatherman turned GOP US Senate hopeful, is also coming under scrutiny as his foes fear his name ID may vault him to the winner's circle.

One of those leading the attacks is radio talk show host Eddy Aragon, who decided against a Senate run of his own and is now using his conservative ABQ airwaves--The Rock of Talk--to paint Ronchetti as a "never Trumper"' unworthy of GOP voters.

Aragon is a fervent Trump supporter. He is blasting the appearance of former GOP Gov. Susana Martinez at the February 1 Bernalillo County GOP Convention, arguing it is a ploy to win over delegates to the March 7 preprimary convention for Ronchetti. Martinez, who finished her governorship with a 32 percent approval rating, refused to support Trump in '16 and is widely distrusted by his supporters.

Aragon further says that former BernCo Sheriff Darren White, also a never Trumper and now a talk host on competing station KKOB, is now promoting Ronchetti for Senate.

Ronchetti, one of five candidates for the GOP nod to succeed retiring Dem Sen. Tom Udall, is concentrating on raising money and is not responding to the jabs of Aragon and others. He expressed support for Trump in his video announcing his candidacy and did so again in a recent fund-raising mailer.

The pro-Trumpers have claimed one victim. Geoff Snider, executive director of the BernCo GOP, was forced out of his position by the state party leadership when he said Trump supporters were "acting literally like Nazis."

There are five candidates for the GOP Senate nomination. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan faces token primary opposition. Pundits rank the Senate race likely Democratic.

CLAIRE VS. YVETTE

Chase

It appears the national Dems are more concerned about Claire Chase winning the southern GOP congressional nomination rather than her main rival Yvette Herrell. Why else would the DCCC bring up that controversy that cost Snider his job and say GOP voters could do something similar to Chase:

. . . Snider’s expulsion from the party should raise alarm bells for Claire Chase, who was outed as a ‘Never Trump’ Republican in September. Maybe that’s why Claire Chase been tweeting wildly about the President, in a desperate attempt to make New Mexico voters forget that Chase. . . has said repeatedly what she truly believes: that Trump is “an a**hole unworthy of the office. . . 

Herrell, the early favorite for the GOP nod, was defeated in '18 by Dem Xochitl Torres Small. National Dems may believe they know how to handle her in a rematch with Rep. Torres Small. Chase is young, articulate and unknown, If she gets the nomination, the D's will need a new and untested playbook.

Herrell vs. Chase and Plame vs. TLF. These heated races may soon need to hire Holly Holm as a referee.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020