First Major Poll In Guv Race Unveiled Sunday, Campaign '22 Officially Goes To The Dogs With Herrell TV Debut; National Dems In The Doghouse? Plus: Reaction To Susana/Ronchetti Carlsbad Lovefest

The first major poll of the '22 race for Governor will be released Sunday, revealing the state of the contest between MLG and Mark Ronchetti after nearly three months without any numbers and setting the table for the final two months of the contest. 

Longtime ABQ Journal pollster Brian Sanderoff confirms to us that he is in the field this week and will report the much anticipated findings in the Sunday editions of the paper.

The poll is the only public survey in the state that conducts live phone interviews with likely voters, helping to give it a higher degree of accuracy. 

As for expectations, MLG had a narrow lead in earlier polls and a repeat of that in the Journal survey would not be surprising. Ronchetti has not been ahead in any of the public polling so if that were to change, it would be a surprise. We'll post the results here Sunday and have a full report on Monday.

Campaign '22 has officially gone to the dogs, raising the question of whether the national Democratic Party belongs in the doghouse. 

GOP US Rep. Yvette Herrell, seeking a second term, appears so confident in her re-election to her mostly southern district, that in her first ad she showcases her dog and compares her service in congress to the job the Great Dane does "watching over her."

Egads! And they call this a toss-up race? 

Herrell, an ardent Trumper and hard-core conservative whose votes include refusing to certify Biden's election as president and against the recently passed and popular Inflation Reduction Act, is supposed to be one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the nation. Vulnerable to what? 

Gabe Vasquez, the former Las Cruces city councilor challenging her, has been in solitary confinement all summer with the national Dems not even sliding soggy crackers under his prison door. His media presence is still nil. 

Herrell and company often imply that Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him but now it's she who appears to be stealing the election from the Dems and right under Reba's nose.

Until there is some sign of life in this race, its new slogan is Let The Big Dog Eat! 

NAME DROPPING 

Besides taking Reba off the leash, Herrell is dropping big GOP names on the campaign trail. Today, former Arkansas Governor Micke Huckabee campaigns for her in Las Cruces. 

House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who is expected to become House Majority Leader if the GOP takes over the House in November, did an event for Herrell in Los Ranchos this week. That metro village is now part of the southern district as is a chunk of ABQ's westside and near downtown precincts. 

McCarthy, trying to deal with radical Republicans who don't believe Biden was fairly elected, sidestepped the matter while campaigning here: 

“I think elections… we had them. It passed, we went through. Joe Biden is the president," McCarthy said. When asked about half of the Republican Party that believe the election was stolen, he responded, “that’s a debate people want to continue to have. What I really want to have is what the parents have been talking about.. why does it cost so much every day you go to the grocery store?”

Biden may not be the president and a Great Dane is qualified to be in Congress. Okay, that does it. We're going into therapy. 

BACKSTAGE BANTER

Our pic this week of former Gov. Susana Martinez sporting a Ronchetti for Governor t-shirt and chatting up Rep. Yvette Herrell backstage at the Ronchetti/DeSantis Aug. 14 Carlsbad rally drew comments. Reader Steve Crespin: 

Joe: It looks like Ronchetti is listening to only a few Republicans. If you go back to my June 3, 2021 comment in your blog, I said Ronchetti needs to distant himself from Susana and her inner circle. He needs all of the Republican Party and many Democrats to show up at the polls on Election Day. If he hopes to pull off a win he needs to distant himself from Susana, she angered many Republicans and they will stay home if they think she is a member of this campaign or a possible member of the Ronchetti administration. 

In a news release, state Dems said:

It’s no wonder Governor Martinez is rooting for a Ronchetti administration, which would be the equivalent of a Martinez third term. Martinez left behind economic disaster and slashed budgets for education and health care - the same policies that Mark Ronchetti has laid out in his campaign. This picture is worth 1,000 words: Mark Ronchetti will send New Mexico backwards to the disastrous policies of the Martinez era.

It appears Florida Gov. DeSantis won't be the only red state governor campaign for Ronchetti. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin will hit the road for Republicans in the fall in half a  dozen states and a NM visit touting Ronchetti is expected to be one of them. 

Besides that hit on Martinez/Ronchetti, state Dems announced this week that. . . 

The Democratic State Central Committee (SCC), adopted an Amendment to their State Party Rules that codifies the addition of 14 positions that are specifically allocated to New Mexico Democrats who are enrolled members of a sovereign tribal community. These 14 positions will be allocated across the state Native Americans in the United States received voting rights in 1948. The Democratic Party has taken concrete action to ensure that New Mexican tribal sovereign nations have a seat at the table, now and for generations to come. 

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2022