Dow & Ronchetti

The '22 GOP gubernatorial primary is ending on anything but a positive note as frontrunner Mark Ronchetti batters Rebecca Dow with an overbearing ad over a lawsuit she was involved in and she in turn puts up another tirade accusing the former TV weatherman of being an anti-Trumper.

By the reckoning of every professional observer Ronchetti has had the race in the bag for weeks. The Journal poll this month had him 27 percent ahead of Dow) but he has not pivoted to a more positive close and begun healing the ranks of the GOP to start the general election in a stronger position against Michelle Lujan Grisham who remains favored for re-election. 

The Dow supporters blame Ronchetti for overkill by "going there" with a lawsuit which involved one of Dow's daycare center employees in a child sex abuse case. The alleged incident did not happen at the daycare center. Ronchetti supporters blame Dow for refusing to stop waging a fruitless negative battle against him in the final hours. 

Dems are gleeful over the bitterness and rancor between the two contenders while MLG continues to peddle her new, soft-spoken image in a series of short TV spots that tout state services available to New Mexicans. They look like public service ads, not campaign messages, which is exactly point. 

MLG has been polling just below the key 50 percent approval rating but with the contrast between her and the overheated Republicans now playing out on statewide television, that barrier could fall and make it exceedingly difficult for the GOP nominee to catch up.

Jay McCleskey

Dow's baggage is such that it probably should have kept her out of the race and Ronchetti and his scorched-earth consultant, Jay McCleskey, can't seem to contain themselves when it comes to her, leading to questions on how they are going to handle another woman candidate in the general election. 

The GOP division has, of course, been chronicled here for years and is a result of the infamous split in the party featuring ex-Gov. Martinez and McCleskey and company against. . . well. . .all the other Republicans. 

The onus for bringing the party together is is not on Dow who is embittered and could withhold an endorsement and work against Ronchetti in the fall. It is Ronchetti who must bring to bear a set of skills to rein in the tempers and heal the divisions that so far have been beyond his reach and that always have been for the take-no-prisoners McCleskey. 

CRUSHING THE ANT 

The race for the GOP lieutenant governor nomination has been a quiet affair but the Martinez/McCleskey/Ronchetti faction is now rearing its head in the final days, coming with this hit piece against leading candidate Ant Thornton who faces ABQ school board member Peggy Muller-Aragon, wife of attorney Robert Aragon. The Aragons are longtime political associates and/or clients of McCleskey. 

 Thornton, a retired Sandia Labs aerospace engineer who would be the first African-American to win a spot on a state gubernatorial ticket, is being scored for donations he made to former President Obama in 2008. That action earned him the mailer monikers of "Obama-Biden supporting liberal" and a "RINO"--Republican In Name Only. 

The piece also accuses Thornton of being pro-abortion and favoring higher taxes but offers no proof. 

The mailer lists a number of Obama donations Thornton made, most of them for $25 and totaling $700.

Thornton crushed it at the GOP preprimary convention in March, getting 59 percent support. Muller- Aragon finished last in a field of five and garnered only 7 percent delegate support, failing to get the required 20 percent for an official spot on the primary ballot. She had to gather additional signatures to qualify. 

Obama donations

As for Thornton, who resides in the ABQ East Mountains, he hasn't hid his past support for Obama or his membership in the Dem Party. From his website:

 Like many Black Americans, “Ant” Thornton was raised a Democrat. During the first Obama administration, he became disillusioned with the Democrat Party so he became a “Walk-Away Democrat” and changed his party affiliation to Republican in 2011. In 2021 he was elected as the 1st Vice Chair of the Republican Party of Bernalillo County. . . where he is a strong advocate for individual liberty and freedom. 

The anti-Thornton mailer comes from a post office box in Louisville Kentucky, keeping a distance from the Ronchetti campaign. But you can't fool the Alligators. Kentucky is where Adam Feldman, former longtime NM mail consultant for McCleskey, now conducts his trade. The mailer is paid for by a PAC calling itself Americans for Strong Leadership.

Thornton and wife

Rebecca Dow may abandon the ticket and now you have Ant Thornton orphaned by the presumptive Guv nominee. 

If he were somehow to become lieutenant governor Thornton might have to call John Sanchez for advice. John suffered the sorry fate of being the number two under Susana Martinez who quickly shunted him aside as he was seen as a threat. It seems Ronchetti may have the same attitude toward this year's likely Light Guv nominee. 

While Thornton seems to have a laid back style, one doesn't get the impression that he would hesitate being the Ant at any future Ronchetti picnics. 

AN APPEAL TO HEAVEN (CONT.)

More today on the Christian nationalism that has come to the NM Guv race in the form of anti-abortion candidate Ethel Maharg. We blogged of the movement, citing 17th century philosopher John Locke as the inspiration of these nationalist Republicans who wrote of an "appeal to heaven" when all else fails to win support. Reader Mitchell Freedman has more: 
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