Former New Mexico Governor Gary officially joined the race Tuesday for United States Senate in New Mexico. He joins US Senator Martin Heinrich and Republican Mick Rich in the contest. 

In this mid-term election when the electorate is older than usual the Martin Heinrich campaign believes the best way to halt any early momentum for potential Libertarian Party challenger Gary Johnson is to take him down on Social Security and Medicare.

Those, of course, are the two entitlement programs that are crucial to the high-voting older population. In a fund-raising message Heinrich's campaign says of Johnson, a former two term NM GOP Governor:

In the Senate, Johnson would side with Republicans on everything from slashing Medicare and Medicaid to threatening Social Security and blocking increases to the minimum wage.

Johnson is still deciding whether to join Heinrich and Republican Mick Rich in the race. A committee is currently asking for donations for Johnson's candidacy. How that goes will probably be the deciding factor in his decision. If he does take the plunge he is going to have his hands full defending himself against a Heinrich entitlement assault. From Forbes:

Johnson favors raising Social Security’s full retirement age from the current maximum of 67 to either 70 or 72. . . Whether Americans could afford to hold off claiming until 70 or 72 to receive full benefits, however, is a real question, considering the majority of beneficiaries today start taking their Social Security money at the earliest age they can, age 62. And Johnson would like to see Social Security begin “means testing that’s very fair.” Translation: The amount people receive in Social Security retirement benefits would be based on their financial well-being at the time they apply.

And on healthcare Johnson says:

Medicaid and Medicare both need to be devolved to the states.” Johnson has referred to those programs as “the worst runaway expenditure in the federal government today.

The entertainment value of a Johnson Senate candidacy would be a ratings grabber. But what about his ratings at the polls with those controversial positions? Perhaps not so much.

THE MLG-APO RIFT

A reader writes of the rift covered on the Monday blog between Dem Guv nominee Michelle Lujan Grisham and unsuccessful Dem Guv contender Jeff Apodaca and his father, former Gov. Jerry Apodaca who has endorsed GOP Guv nominee Steve Pearce:

MLG is in a position to rise above pettiness and reach out to those who may have not supported her in the primary. I am disappointed that she is choosing to try to run a campaign without key elements of the Democratic base. She may win without us and she is calculating that she can win without us. I urge her to reach out to Governor Apodaca's group before the rift widens and hurts the Democratic Party.

WHAT A MESS

What a mess for new UNM President Garnett Stokes. The NM newcomer has been badly blindsided by the UNM Regents who stepped in a pile of dung when they cut the UNM soccer team and other sports to make up for a deficit and she went along with it without protest.  Now the AG says the meeting they made the cuts at was in violation of the open meetings act. Didn't any of Stokes' well compensated advisers (hello, UNM executive VP David Harris) give her any warning about any of this?

President Stokes was diminished in the public eye because of the controversy just as she was trying to build her credibility with the Legislature and public. She looks weak and a tool of the the Guv. Martinez controlled Regents. While her political naiveté was a partial cause, bad advice or no advice appears to be another.

MAKE ROOM, DEB

Sharice Davids

Shout out to ABQ Dem congressional Deb Haaland: Make some room on the sofa. You may have to share the title of "first Native American woman to serve in Congress.'" The news:

Sharice Davids shattered the mold for a congressional primary winner from ruby red Kansas, becoming the state’s first Native American and gay nominee for Congress. The 38-year-old attorney and activist prevailed in a close six-candidate Democratic primary and will face four-term Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder. Democrats are targeting Yoder this fall because Democrat Hillary Clinton narrowly won the district in the 2016 presidential race. . She’d be the first LGBT Native American woman in Congress. Davids is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, of Wisconsin. . . Davids spent eight years working her way through college and law school.

Haaland still has the better chance of becoming the first Native American woman in Congress because she is in a race with no incumbent and in a deep blue congressional district, with victory in sight. Davids has to unseat an incumbent.

HOW HOT IS IT?

The National Weather Service in ABQ tweets out:

Through July 2018, New Mexico has been the warmest on record. The same is true for the past year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years and 5 years! #nmwx

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2018