The affable politico and State Auditor Brian Colón has been told for a year that if he's not prepared to go negative his chances of securing the Democratic nomination for attorney general are headed south. Now Colón is heeding that advice and unloading both barrels on BernCo District Attorney Raul Torrez as the two engage in a suddenly fierce battle.

Torrez was first to fire with an ad that accused Colón of advocating for the defunding of the police. Colón reacted with fury, lashing out at Torrez' record as DA. 

His TV spot opens with a shot of Torrez asking in one of his ads: "Are you sick of crime?" Then the narrator for the Colón spot answers:

Is Raul Torrez joking? His record of botching cases and letting criminals off easy has made crime worse. A man accused of sexually assaulting two young girls went free because of Torrez's negligence. Torres went easy on one of Susan Martinez's top officials dismissing his DWI. And because of Torrez' incompetence a UNM baseball player was killed by a man Torrez failed to convict. Are you sick of crime?" Yes. And that's why Raul Torrez should never be our attorney general.

The Martinez official the ad cites is Ryan Flynn, who was a cabinet secretary for Republican Gov. Martinez and whose charge of aggravated DWI was dismissed by Torrez's office. 

In the case of the slain UNM baseball player, the suspect had a previous arrest but the case was dismissed because Torrez's office said "mistakes were made."

Sen. Heinrich

Until this week Torrez had been positioning himself as the progressive in the race against moderate Dem Colón. But his attack on Colón on defunding the police pushes him into a more conservative stance.

The new positioning could be problematic for US Sen. Martin Heinrich who has made one of his highest profile campaign endorsements by appearing with Torrez in a widely broadcast TV ad. Not that Heinrich is for defunding the police but it is a position that his progressive wing does not automatically reject. 

Also, a Torrez defeat will not go unnoticed and could mean a loss of political capital for the state's senior senator, unlike lesser endorsements he's made and where his choice was rejected.

The Heinrich endorsement reflects the division in the Dem party between progressives and the faction represented by Colón and fellow moderate and current Attorney General Hector Balderas. If they beat Torrez that faction will no doubt seek revenge on Heinrich and move to wreck his embryonic move to become Governor.

Torrez was forced to go negative first because of Colón's superior fundraising and name ID. That made it easier for Colón to drop the nice guy act and hit back because, well, you know where nice guys finish.

A meteorologist who won't comment on climate change being human-caused. 

That's the uncomfortable position GOP gubernatorial hopeful Mark Ronchetti put himself in this week during a TV interview. (Full 5 minute interview here.) 

The former TV weatherman was asked not once but twice about whether humans caused climate change and he dodged it both times. That had Dem party operatives pouncing:

Ronchetti rival Rebecca Dow has been calling Ronchetti a "climate activist," a dreaded label in today's GOP. 

Even though human-caused climate change is settled science Ronchetti dare not go there but if he's the GOP nominee the chances of him getting busted over a repeat of that answer are a certainty. 

Meanwhile, Ronchetti is doing better with his paid media, outspending Dow on TV and in the mail and pounding away at her in a variety of ads, including this one featuring his two daughters and that uses a dose of humor to deflect from Dow's charge that he is a "Never Trumper."

Back to Dow who also had a rough media appearance recently when she attended the Gathering of Nations in ABQ celebrating indigenous communities. When she took the stage the host welcomed her and then promptly criticized her TV commercial that goes after critical race theory, saying:

What's a candidate to do? For Dow, it was to stand there and take her medicine with a smile as seen on Twitter. 

Jay Block

GOP Guv contender and Sandoval County Commissioner Jay Block tells us he is preparing to join Ronchetti and Dow on the airwaves in time for the start of early in-person voting beginning May 21.

Block's critics say he is spoiling the chances of fellow conservative Rebecca Dow but Block responds that Dow and Ronchetti are already spoiled:

Block won't have the big budgets of his competitors but he says his plan is to have a presence on the major network affiliated stations. The primary is June 7.

The national Dems and GOP continue to play in the NM Guv race with the Hill reporting that the Dem. Gov Association announced a $2.5 million ad buy for MLG this fall. Meantime, the Republican Gov. Association says it has made a "six figure buy" for this 60 second ad faulting MLG's border policies and that will air this month.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.