State GOP chair Ramsay Gorham has apparently put to bed once and for all the speculation about her state senate reelection plans. In a cryptic email to "NM Politics With Joe Monahan," Ramsay says: "Looks like I'm running." She did not elaborate.
Sources close to her told me in November that she probably would NOT seek reelection to the ABQ North Valley seat she has held for eight years, and that Rio Rancho's Judy Vanderstar Russell was a top contender to replace Gorham. But the state chair may feel leaving the senate could make her look a bit timid in the face of the continuing challenge from the forces of former State Chair John Dendahl. Some of her Republican supporters feel she would be better off to take on the state party job full-time and leave the legislative battling to someone else. But Gorham, who engaged in two fierce face-offs for her senate seat with Democrat Janice Paster, is not one to let go easily. And besides, she may feel she's finally getting a handle on the party. The Dendahlites make a lot of noise, but it is Gorham signing off on the contracts and hiring the personnel. And while they have fielded several candidates in the June primary against Gorham allies, they are not heavy hitters.
As for who will run the Bush reelect campaign here, the big point of contention in the state GOP war, I am hearing rumblings of an impending deal, but nothing firm yet. We'll keep you posted.
REAL OLDIES RADIO
Politicos looking for crucial senior citizen votes this election year are bending an ear in the direction of KKJY-AM 1550 radio in ABQ, where one of the last locally owned stations in the big city has made a modest name for itself by broadcasting the hits of the past to seniors of the moment. Don Davis, a veteran radio man, is the only sole proprietor of a radio station in ABQ that gets any meaningful ratings.
He's playing on a stage dominated by radio giants like Citadel and Clear Channel that own hundreds of stations across the nation and at least a half a dozen each in the ABQ market. But Davis, who put "KJOY" on the air almost four years ago, is defying the odds. He's up to four full-time employees and three part-timers. The ratings show him at about 15th in an over saturated market of over 50 signals beamed into the city. It's the 50 plus audience that Don caters to, and with about 30,000 listeners a week he says are tuning in, he may have the station with the highest percentage of definite voters in ABQ radio.
"We actually have tried to skew a little younger this past year. We were losing audience because our programming was a bit too old. We also added hourly news updates. My next goal is to make this a top ten station." Davis told me. A top ten for the 5,000 watt KJOY would be a major coup, but with an aging population, Davis, who says he is successful today because he learned from past "terrible mistakes," may be poised for his own golden age of radio.
TOUGH SESSION AHEAD FOR THE GUV?
Veteran New Mexico newspaperman, and now syndicated columnist, Ned Cantwell, writes in the Carlsbad Current Argus that he sees a rocky legislative session ahead for Big Bill, or as Ned calls him, "The Bill." Here's his take.
Ned Cantwell
122 MILLION AND COUNTING!
A bizarre news release from the state Department of Tourism says 122 million visitors 'passed through" our fair state in 2003. That's right 122 million! Hey, only 175 million or so before the whole country comes here in one year! Tourism departments and convention bureaus are notorious for putting out this kind of stuff. Where do they get the numbers? And what does it have to do with just how the state is doing in getting money out of those tourist pockets? Maybe they have people with clickers at the state borders counting each car. Was it that billboard of Big Bill in New York's Times Square that got all those 'visitors' here? Maybe next time they can break the 122 million down by party registration.
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2004
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