And away we go into the battle for New Mexico's southern congressional seat, the banner contest in the 2020 election.

"Say no to Xocilalism," declares the Xmas shirt of this young supporter of GOP congressional hopeful Yvette Herrell. He's not old enough to vote and probably not versed in the nuances of socialism but "Xocilalism" does rhyme with the pronunciation of the first part of the first name of freshman Dem Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small so we guess the "joke" works.

Xochitl shouldn't let the ribbing bother her much. After all, it appears the R's believe most voters finally know how to pronounce her first name. As for her being a Socialist, they have a way to go to convince voters of that.

But hold on, Yvette. It's far from guaranteed that you will be the R facing Rep. Torres Small as the 2020 GOP nominee as you did in 2018. A lady by the name of Claire Chase will have a large say in the matter. And look at this. . .

Claire has also been busy putting out Christmas pics. This one has her nicely positioned with VP Mike Pence and his wife at the Veep's DC Xmas bash.

No formal endorsement of Claire's candidacy was given by the VP, but who's kidding whom? This is the second time Pence has played cozy with Chase, the first being a public visit to the Chase family's SE oil business shortly before she announced her run for the US House in September.

Yvette may claim to be the favorite of the Trumpers but Pence apparently hasn't received the memo and appears to be eyeing a future presidential run of his own. Generous campaign contributions from the oil folks--including the Chase's--would bump up his campaign coffers.

LOVE IS ALL AROUND

That was the title of the ABQ newspaper's Christmas Day editorial but it sure didn't look lovely around here as this unfolded:

ABQ homicide detectives spent Christmas morning investigating two deaths and one shooting that resulted in a woman being taken to a local hospital in “very critical condition.” If any of the deaths are confirmed as homicides, they would increase the current 2019 homicide tally, which stands at 77 and represents the highest number of slayings the city has seen in recent history. 

And more Christmas mayhem in the ABQ suburbs of Rio Rancho:

Rio Rancho police say (four)  people were found dead in a home in the Northern Meadows subdivision on Christmas Day .Capt. Andrew Rodriguez said officers “found four people inside the residence deceased as a result of what we believe to be gunshot wounds.”

Without question the top story in ABQ in 2019 has been the record number of murders. Will they be curbed in 2020? That's the #1 question for the new year.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019