President Trump popped up in that hotly contested southern NM congressional race the other day, doing a brief telephone rally for Republican hopeful Yvette Herrell and reminding one and all how his popularity in the district is key to the outcome. (Complete 6 minute call here).

Four points is not going to get the job done and would likely lead to Herrell's second defeat in a row at the hands of Dem Rep. Xochitl Torres Small. But in his often entertaining call to Herrell loyalists Trump was hearing none of it as he spoke from the Oval Office: 

Everybody! Fun stuff even if some of the pros are now calling the contest lean Democrat and it appears Herrell is being outspent. 

You have to give the President credit for nailing the pronunciation of the often mispronounced first name of Xochitl. But that just set up his attack lines: 

Herrell can only hope that Trump's boast of having "record numbers" in the southern CD comes to fruition on Election Night and helps push her into the Congress. But, hey, no problem. "Everybody" knows there won't be a problem. 

And there goes over 150 years of Santa Fe Plaza history in just seconds of irrational anger. A damn shame and it will help set up one of the most divisive and ugly Santa Fe mayor races ever in 2021. Mayor Webber condemned the obelisk destruction but the radical and racially charged politics now emerging in the City Different will challenge everyone. And like ABQ Mayor Keller, whose police force stood down when protesters dismantled an Onate statue near Old Town this summer, Webber's cops apparently did the same. Here's his video reacting to the destruction but he does not address the police going AWOL.  Councilor Villarreal is already blaming him for the police absence. Be certain there is much more to come on all of this. 

Giving a helping hand to a veteran in need of surgery is the topic of one of the latest ad offerings from Dem US Senate candidate Ben Ray Lujan, The vet gives a personal tesimtonal about how Lujan helped. 

When the US Senate campaign TV ads started Republican and accomplished TV performer Mark Ronchetti's smooth persona contrasted starkly with the more unpolished presentation of the lawmaker from Nambe. But Lujan has improved greatly during the campaign and that contrast is no longer noticeable. He has grown into this campaign for Senate. At first he seemed to be trying too hard. Confidence may have something to do with it. The northern Congresman leads Ronchetti by ten points in the latest polling.

It's no surprise but it never hurts to get the endorsement of your hometown paper. Lujan secured his when the Santa Fe New Mexican came with this editorial. 

For his part, Ronchetti continues to come with TV ads as well as "Ronchetti on the Road" videos for social media. The latest one features him with his wife and his two young daughters--who have become staples in his TV ads. The family is shown sledding down the gleaming hills of White Sands near Alamogordo with sand so white it looks like a perfect ski slope. But it will soon be time for Ronchetti to come home to ABQ and stay put. He can only pull off an upset if he trims Lujan's sails in the big city, 

Meanwhile, it was Ronchetti's often controversial political consultant Jay McCleskey getting front page Sunday coverage in the ABQ Journal, not Ronchetti. McCleskey, who headed up Gov. Martinez's political machine, is entangled in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by legislative candidate Scott Chandler. 

Chandler has won hefty lawsuit settlements (nearly $1 million) from the state over actions taken by the Martinez administration against a ranch he ran for troubled youth near Deming. The mailers in question in the defamation suit are about alleged abuses at the ranch that were never proven. Those charges were used by McCleskey in mailers against Chandler when he ran for the legislature in 2016. McCleskey says they are protected by the First Amendment. 

No word on how much in damages Chandler is seeking but apparently the legal wrangling has already been a financial hit for the consultant. McCleskey has filed a lawsuit against his insurance company for refusing to pay his legal fees. The attorney for Chandler is Pete Domenici Jr., son of the late Senator, who we presume is having no trouble collecting his fees.  

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