(FIRST POSTED THURSDAY, NOV. 6)
They just won't let her have it. State GOP Chair Ramsay Gorham is going to have to fight for every inch of territory. Word now is that delicate negotiations are underway between Ramsay and Bush re-election operatives on just what the party role will be in the Bush effort. There is money and power at stake--lucrative consulting contracts and Gorham's future stature. She ousted once powerful GOP Chair John Dendahl but he and his acolytes are back, trying to pry the presidential campaign out of her orbit and no doubt laying the ground work to get one of "theirs" back in the top job.

Dendahl was GOP chair longer than anyone in NM history. His web of contacts with the Republican National Committee runs deep. He delivered many wins and is trusted back East. On the list of guests at any Dendahl dinner party is GOP National Committeeman Mickey Barnett and Roswell State Sen. Rod Adair. They are tough, hardened veterans of political trench warfare who, sources say, are painting a picture of Ramsay in Washington as not up to the rough and tumble of a presidential battle and arguing the re-elect be kept in the hands of Dendahl operatives. Ramsay supporters say there are laws governing the financial relationship between the Bush committee and the state GOP and she wants to make sure the law is followed. Deciphered that means she doesn't want all that presidential manna going to the camp of her archenemy. Gorham, who is also a GOP State Senator, won two campaigns for senate and is coming off an unexpected near win in September on the permanent fund constitutional amendment. Still, she gets no respect from the dejected Dendahl wing. In turn they get no money.

Senator Domenici, who parted ways with Gorham over Conny 2, has been quiet. Ramsay has solid support from the GOP Legislative leadership and central committee Republicans. But there are issues even with the moderate GOP'ers.The Dendhalites were not the only ones who had their plates pulled away. Sources tell "New Mexico Politics With Joe Monahan" that the wife of a prominent Domenici campaign official lost a lucrative fundraising contract with the party when Ramsay took over and began her drive to get the party out of debt. Is that a factor? Maybe, maybe not. Domenici's staff, rather than Pete himself, will be more involved in deciding how the White House should proceed out here. Longtime Domenici Chief of Staff Steve Bell is near the action. The right moves have to be made. If Ramsay is dealt out, a public split in the state GOP would hurt Bush in NM which he only lost by a couple of hundred votes to Al Gore in 2000. Meanwhile, Gorham has sent a message by hiring former Democrat Tom Carroll, a wartime counselor, as Executive Director of the party.

Bottom Line: While the chase for presidential power and spoils is a bloody battleground, Gorham's willingness to fight may have been underestimated. The out-of-power brigade formed against her could be forced to bring in heavier artillery, or else consider a peace treaty. That job may have to fall to Pete, who might be thinking like Al Pacino in Godfather III: "Everytime I try to get out, they pull me back in!"

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2003
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