Hillary Clinton will be jetting in and out of Albuquerque on Sunday for a big-ticket fundraiser organized by former Ambassador to Spain, Ed Romero, an Albuquerque resident:
At Clinton's fundraiser, invitees will pay $2,300 to be "sponsors," while "friends" pay $1,000 for the catered event of Spanish tapas, wine and sherry. Romero declined to say how much Clinton hopes to raise.
The guest list will include Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, former state Democratic Party chairman John Wertheim and former Ambassador Joe Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame ...
Payback for Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement of Barack Obama? I wouldn't be surprised.
I guess the Clintons are now pulling out all the stops, in both fundraising and dissing Bill Richardson. To their way of thinking, what could be better than a fundraiser in Bill Richardson's backyard as the Washington Post op-ed battle heats up between James Carville and the Guv. (If you haven't seen the op-eds yet, here's Carville's and Richardson's.)
Add in Bill Clinton's red-faced rage directed at Richardson and others in his Sunday meeting with California superdelegates, and it makes the Clinton fundraiser in Albuquerque seem that much more revenge-oriented. I find that very sad.
What I'm somewhat surprised about is that the hosts are seeking funds for Clinton's lagging prez campaign at a time when local cash donations are in high demand here. With all three U.S. House seats and Domenici's U.S. Senate seat up for grabs, Dem candidates all up and down the ticket in New Mexico are scrambling hard for contributions, especially after so many resources went to support Gov. Richardson's prez run.
Of course, reports are abundant that the Clinton campaign is running out of cash and delaying payments to vendors, as pressure builds from many quarters for her to withdraw from an increasingly unwinnable race -- and Obama continues to snag endorsements from prominent superdelegates. Apparently a Clinton fundraiser in New Mexico was just too tempting, and of course there are a large number of monied Clinton supporters in the state.
GOP Bigwigs Also Huddling in NM
Meanwhile, out at Santa Ana Pueblo's upscale Hyatt Regency Tamaya near Bernalillo we've got a big meeting going on this week of the GOP State Party Chairs from all over the nation, led by Republican National Committee Chair Mike Duncan. On Friday, McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, will speak to the group.
Duncan has made it clear that the Repubs will be targeting New Mexico with everything they've got in the 2008 election cycle:
"New Mexico is a battleground target state for us," Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan told The Associated Press. "We recognize it's going to be an important state for us."
Darren White: GOP Beltway Fave in NM-01
Besides touting the prez campaign of John McCain, the RNC is also taking sides early and rallying around the Congressional candidacy of Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White in NM-01 -- to the detriment of the Party's other primary candidate, State Sen. Joe Carraro.
It's unusual for the national or state party to openly take sides in a contested primary race, but Duncan said party rules allow that when requested by a state's RNC members. New Mexico's three RNC members, who include state chairman Allen Weh, submitted a letter to the national party asking it to treat White as the presumptive nominee. The letter was sent after White received 85 percent of the vote of delegates at the party's preprimary nominating convention in mid-March.
Of course the RNC will be pushing hard for Darren White -- he was the Bush campaign's chair in Bernalillo County in 2004. Repub bigwigs know that Darren's loyalty will always be given first and foremost to the Beltway rightwing establishment. If elected (heaven forbid), he'll be a dependable supporter of the insider Repub agenda whether it benefits New Mexicans or not. White has always answered to the demands of the GOP extremists in DC. What's worse is that he seems to sincerely believe in the policies that have brought us a quagmire in Iraq, an economic tsunami at home, a compromised Constitution, a broken health care system and a dearth of good-paying jobs.
Meanwhile, local netroots favorite Martin Heinrich is running a strong campaign in NM-01, building up his volunteer base and donation totals, and generally kicking ass. New Mexico Dems are excited about the prospects of finally taking the Albuquerque-area seat being vacated by Repub incumbent Rep. Heather Wilson. Wilson is running against current NM-02 Rep. Steve Pearce for a chance to go up against one of my favorite New Mexico politicos, Tom Udall, for the Senate seat at long last being vacated by Pete Domenici.
Voter registration, activism and lots of small campaign donations from ordinary Dems are burgeoning in NM regardless. There is so much to gain -- and too much to lose. It's now or never.