All of us New Mexico politics watchers know that the 10 p.m. news is the name of the game in statewide contests. The three ABQ network stations reach just about the entire state and the late news is your best chance of catching the most likely voters. So, holding my remote like a six shooter, I monitored all three network broadcasts for you last night to make sure your candidate was doing his job on day one of their six day battle here. (LATE WORD: DEAN HAS PULLED ALL TV ADS IN THE 'SUPER SEVEN' STATES; WILL HUSBAND RESOURCES FOR LATER CONTESTS)

Each major candidate, with one major exception, made the grade. That exception, suprisingly, was Howard Dean, the candidate who has raised the most money. Kerry, Edwards and Clark each had at least three spots on the three stations. And guess who they were joined by? Dennis Kucinich, who was doing some prime time bashing of Howard Dean. More on that later. Dean went off the air here
after his Iowa debacle and to my knowledge has not resurfaced, at least not on the critical 10 p.m. news where all his major rivals debuted their stuff last night. Edwards actually has two different spots in rotation. It appeared Kerry, Clark and Kucinich each had one. Dean apparently is having money problems, according to national reports. And now they are showing, which means thus far he's a no show on the widely watched late newscasts. Those newscasts, the last I checked, cost about a thousand bucks a pop. (If I'm off on that, TV insiders please email me.)

And Kucinich is adding insult to injury. In his primetime TV last night Kucinich attacked Dean by name saying the Vermont governor does not support immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, as does Kucinich. The feisty Ohio congressman has been a no-show in Iowa and New Hampshire, but in the first Journal poll this month he's at 6 percent, probably his best poll showing in the nation.

This is the last problem the Dean Machine needs. Kucinich eating away at Dean, even a little, could mean the difference between a win and loss here. Those liberals Kucinich is charging up with his TV are natural Dean supporters. The Kucinich impact on Dean could be the same siphoning effect the Green party has on NM Democratic candidates. Earlier I passed along reports that Kucinich was scaling back staff here because of money woes, but was e mailed by a staffer who said the reports were wrong. In any event, Kucinich has enough money to be in on the main event---TV spots.

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