"Ella Es Una De Nosotros," MLG And Hubby Woo Hispanic Voters In New TV Spot As Ronchetti Takes Advantage Of Her NAIOP Scheduling Mishap

The first use of Spanish in a Guv TV spot is not going unnoticed.

“Ella es una de nosotros” (she's one of us), declares MLG's husband Manny Cordova at the conclusion of a new ad touting this wife's work ethic. 

It's a reminder of the critical importance of the Hispanic vote for the Democrats whose loyalty the GOP has called into question here and elsewhere.

In the defining image of the spot, the Governor climbs up on the sideboard of Cordova's pickup truck, takes the coffee he has brought her and then plants a firm one squarely on his lips. 

That's a far cry from the social distancing, N-95 masks and MLG's stern warning to keep our hands off each other that prevailed during Covid and did little for her likability ratings. 

Hispanics have been the most reticent Democrats when it comes to MLG's re-election bid, according to the May SurveyUSA. That poll showed her winning the Hispanic vote 55 percent to Mark Ronchetti's 31 percent, a decent showing but not up to historical standards for a Dem.

Ronchetti supporters immediately pegged the TV ad as divisive and a blatant racial appeal for votes. But that slogan has been used in state campaigns for decades. 

In 1980 ABQ GOP Congressman Manuel Lujan, Jr. made "he's one of us" a centerpiece of his re-election effort. It wasn't solely an appeal to native Hispanics but also a hit on his opponent's out of state origins. That opponent was none other than Hispanic Bill Richardson who lost that race but later was twice elected governor.  

Ditto for Ronchetti in the carpetbagger department. He is a native of Vermont who has lived in NM some 20 years. MLG is a native New Mexican with family times that go back nearly 20 times longer and whose Hispanic grandfather was the first Hispanic chief justice of the NM Supreme Court. 

With ethnic voting an important factor in campaigns here, she's not going to put on ice one of her major strengths, no more than Ronchetti is going to stop using his wife and children to his advantage in TV spots. 

NAIOP MISHAP 

MLG made another unforced error when she stalled in revealing that she was attending a meeting of the Democratic Governors Association in Colorado and other unspecified political events on the same day as Monday's NAIOP gubernatorial forum that she declined to attend. Her camp came with the disclosure Tuesday, a day after the event with the real estate and development group, saying the trip was long-planned. 

While it was a solid strategic decision to stay away given that she is ahead, doesn't need to give her opponent the stage to upstage her and NAIOP has a conservative partisan lean, the reason for the absence needlessly became the story.

The Ronchetti camp called the mishap "a scandal,"speculating that she was also raising money from wealthy donors in Colorado while ignoring the business people of NAIOP, but it was more like another bump in her campaign road that has had plenty of them. 

As one of the Alligators put it, MLG's management style can quickly turn into a "hot mess" but what happens in Santa Fe often stays there. That is not the case under the bright lights of a major campaign and while NAIOP is a group dominated by conservatives, most of whom are not going to vote for her, the manner in which she gave them the brush-off played into the GOP criticism that she is an "elite" and out of touch. 

Of course, Ronchetti did the same as MLG when he was the front-runner in the GOP primary, refusing to appear at forums with his primary opponents 

Ronchetti scored over the Colorado trip but he didn't make much use of his solo performance at the forum, repeating his proposals for tax cuts and rebates from the oil and gas surplus. 

Both of our contenders often have no clothes. One gets tangled in management issues and the other is on a starvation diet when it comes to ideas. 

THE BOTTOM LINES

And today they come from reader Armand Huertaz who rues the state's recent ranking as last in the nation in child well-being:

The amount of spin zone for taking dead, freakin' last in childhood development is laughable at this point. Do they really think that not counting the COVID years where kids stayed at home from school is going to bolster these numbers? Will being dead last in unemployment the past year or so going to help drive the economic numbers? When it comes to policy in NM, can we for once take a deep breath and just be honest with ourselves? 

Armand, sounds as though you need a no spin zone. And you've found one . . . 

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2022