Talk about a picture telling a thousand words. But what are the words to describe our fun-loving Governor fully embracing her diminutive stature and showing off a custom made jockey uniform at this past weekend's Kentucky Derby?

We haven't had a caption contest in ages but this cries out for one (and some fun). Best caption wins lunch for two at the Barelas Coffee Hosue ($50 value) So get those emails to us at newsguy@yahoo.com. 

Some starters: 

Of course I'm ready to race. I already treid the whip on the backside of Duke Rodriguez and it worked wonders.  

No, I have not been training on horses grazing at the Epstein ranch but thanks for asking. 

Move the State Fairgrounds to Kentucky? Hmm. There's an idea. 

The Governor's office says office says MLG's trip to Kentucky was not made at public expense. 

DISSING DEB 

We ran reader letters last week supportive of Deb Haaland's Dem Governor candidacy and--not unexpectedly--her critics wanted equal time. ABQ attorney Armand Huertaz leads off the Deb dissing:

 Joe, Since we did a section of “glazing” Haaland, let’s talk about how terrible she will be. In Congress, no one can name one substantive policy she delivered. Ever. But that was just the appetizer. She was a failed and disastrous Secretary of the Interior. 

Don’t take my word for it—ask the indigenous rights groups that blasted her for squandering her historic opportunity to improve the lives of our native brothers and sisters. She did nothing to address the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people. The one time she tried to bring a “win” to the tribes, she ended up getting rebuked by the Navajo Nation for tramping over their sovereignty by forcing down the Chaco Canyon leasing ban. This directly impacted the livelihood of over 5,000 Navajo allotees who relied on mineral royalties. Rather than help her people, she helped her white progressive, extreme, environmental, radical buddies. She is so out of touch. 

The one guarantee she brings is inevitably more hideous windmills to our gorgeous skylines (and fewer birds because they will all be dead). Last, but not least, let’s not forget her nepotism with her daughter Somah and all her ethics issues that stemmed from that. Because scandals on the 4th floor just go hand in hand in this state, I suppose that will fit right in. But she only has two DWI’s ain’t bad—but those are rookie numbers here in NM. Her tenure will be awful. But Democrats do have a funny way of failing upwards. 

Longtime activist Brian Fejer writes: 

I hope we can someday get to the point where throwing millions of dollars at campaigns gives those candidates no advantage. True, the candidate with the most advertising does not always win, but it happens too often. It is sickening to know those millions are going into the pockets of advertising companies for producing garbage flyers, tv ads, and spam texts when that money could actually be doing some good somewhere. When I see the same obnoxious ad six times an hour I write that candidate off my list if he/she was not already off. I’ll vote for whoever is not Deb Haaland in November! 

John Strong writes:

Hi Joe, I wanted to thank you for calling out the Haaland campaign over her refusal to have a real debate as you define it. How are we to assess these candidates without it? Regarding Haaland, I find it odd that a campaign that has a one word slogan “Fierce” , shows nothing but fear about debates. 

TV BANNED 

That one and only TV debate between Democratic governor hopefuls Deb Haaland and Sam Bregman that really wasn't a debate is drawing more fire. 

The assignment desk at KOB TV reacted to our post about the little coverage the debate received in the free media, especially on television. They report there is a reason for that; they were not allowed in the room Saturday where the Duke's Up sponsored debate was held:

Joe, I tried to get a camera into the event and was told “no cameras” allowed by organizers other than their own. So “very little media coverage” comes from not letting us use our actual tools to cover said event. Organizers are unclear on the concept, I guess. 

The cameras of local PBS were permitted at the event and the station produced the broadcast (but not the debate) that will be aired Thursday at 7PM.

DUKE'S TAX CUT

GOP Guv candidate Duke Rodriguez has made repeal of the state's gross receipts tax on retail sales a cornerstone of his campaign. A reader who says he is with a group called the NM Dept. of Public Excellence disagrees:

Hi Joe, Long time reader, first time caller. Your coverage of the NM gubernatorial campaigns has been excellent. I've been keeping an eye on the Duke Rodriguez campaign for the same reason you have - his ability to self-fund could make him a sleeper in this race. However, his biggest idea - eliminating a huge swath of NM's tax base to somehow kickstart economic growth like we've never seen before. I dove into the numbers of what this mean in a blog post, which I've shared a snippet of below. Thanks again for your great work. You can read the full article here.

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.