http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/6235.html
Our final answer? (20 comments; last comment posted Today 02:41 pm) print | email this story STEVE TERRELL | The New Mexican November 4, 2004 Although The Associated Press on Wednesday called New Mexico for President Bush, Dave Contarino — Gov. Bill Richardson's chief of staff and an informal adviser to the state John Kerry campaign — said that call is premature, because too many ballots are still uncounted. According to unofficial results, with 99 percent of New Mexico precincts reporting, Bush was leading Kerry by less than 12,000 votes at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. "Admittedly we'd have to win (the uncounted ballots ) 2-to-1 ," Contarino said. "But there's still 35,000 votes out, which is three times Bush's margin ." At this point, however, New Mexico's vote is moot. Kerry conceded to Bush on Wednesday after it became apparent the Democratic senator would lose Ohio. "You've still got early and absentee votes out in Santa Fe and Taos, which are strong liberal and strong Hispanic counties," Contarino said. "There are 13,000 provisional ballots and 6,000 absentee ballots out in Bernalillo." A large number of votes have yet to be counted in Cibola County, which is a Democratic stronghold, he noted. Contarino said the provisional-ballot count could take several days, with results from early and absentee ballots possibly available by today. The Associated Press announced it was putting the state in the Bush column only minutes before a news conference called by Richardson, who didn't mention the wire service's decision. Several national political pundits had said during the campaign that Richardson — who most assume has national ambitions despite his frequent denials — was expected to deliver New Mexico to Kerry. "A vote for president is a very personal vote," Richardson told reporters. "It's not easy to transfer your political popularity to another candidate. I tried very hard to transfer my political capital to (Kerry)." Richardson said he attended about 30 rallies for Kerry in the state, traveled to other states like Colorado, Utah, Pennsylvania and Washington, and made television commercials for Kerry aired in this state. His political-action committee, Moving America Forward, registered 150,000 new voters — mainly Hispanic and American Indian — in New Mexico and other swing states, Richardson said. The governor said he received a call Wednesday from Ken Salazar, the Democrat who won a U.S. Senate seat in Colorado, thanking him for help from Moving America Forward. However, according to exit polls, Bush won about 44 percent of the Latino vote in New Mexico. That's about 12 percent better than Bush did in his race against Al Gore here in 2000. Contarino said the national security issue helped Bush among younger Hispanics here. "On the security issue, clearly the young Hispanic vote was moved by the president's message," Contarino said. Bush also obliterated the gender gap in New Mexico, according to the exit polls. Bush and Kerry each got 49 percent of the female vote — a 7-point gain for Bush over his 2000 total. According to the exit polls, available on http://CNN.com, Bush also won 50 percent of New Mexico voters between the ages of 18 and 24. "I'm a little disappointed in the youth vote," Richardson said. He said Democrats invested a lot into the idea they could attract a large number of young, first-time voters — who are overlooked by pollsters because they use cell phones. "But nationally, that didn't happen." Contarino said the Bush campaign made a wise decision to send Bush to small conservative Southern New Mexico towns like Hobbs and Alamogordo. "It paid off," he said. "When Lea County came in last night, it hurt us." According to unofficial results, Bush won Lea County with 80 percent of the vote. Richardson said the election results should show "the West is the future of the Democratic Party." Asked how that could be when the only Western states Kerry won were on the West Coast, Richardson said states such as Arizona and Nevada were more competitive than usual. Colorado, he said, elected a Democratic senator, while Montana elected Democrat Brian Schweitzer as governor. While praising the efforts of the Kerry campaign, Richardson said Democrats should make more of an effort to win Western and Southern voters. Asked how Bush's winning New Mexico would affect his own future, Richardson said his two main priorities are the next session of the Legislature — which begins in January — and running for re-election in 2006. Want to use this article? Click here for options! Copyright 2004 Santa Fe New Mexican Comment on this story Register now to start posting comments immediately -- click here By posting, you agree to abide by our Forum Rules. Comments By Jeff Varela (Submitted: 11/04/2004 2:41 pm) Bush won 44% of the Hispanic vote in NM? Bush won 50% of the NM voters between the ages of 18-24? "Moving America Forward" helps Salazar win US Senate seat in Colorado? Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, what about Roswell, Clovis, Hobbs, Las Cruces and Farmington? Democrats, its reality check time! Lets quit acting like sheep being led to the slaughter!!! By Eric Scott (Submitted: 11/04/2004 2:04 pm) As Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and her Staff make History and as we chronicle the 2004 Vote on www.freenewmexican.com , may their work be sure and with an eye for any suggestions for improvement, State and Nationwide. Applause from, Edge By Matt Lujan (Submitted: 11/04/2004 11:54 am) Oh Judy please! Bill is one of the reasons North Korea has nuclear weapons, he and his stupid bosses (Albright and Clinton) GAVE them nuclear fuel rods so they could get a head start. The idiots thought the North Koreans would keep their word and not develop weapons if they got the rods and a camera to watch them, then guess what? The camera was shut off and a year or so later a test explosion was monitored. You can't make deals with mad men, Bill must think these North Koreans are normal people, they aren't, he was duped. They even came to Santa Fe to talk to Bill thinking he was important and could change Bush's mind on unilateral talks. Bush, rightly so, told him and them to take a hike, multilateral talks with all affected nations or no dice, the way it should be. Bush would never call the King of Santa Fe for help with anything, since the King can't even help himself. By thomas blog (Submitted: 11/04/2004 11:02 am) I think the youth vote made a damn good start. I was a poll watcher in precinct 20 (Casa Solona area) - and I saw a lot of first time young voters. Unfortunately, some had to cast provisional ballots (still being counted) because they were not on the rolls (they said they had registered at paramount/wild oats/Kerry hq). I also saw an unhappy group of 20 or so twenty somethings doing a nice protest yesterday on Paseo Peralta. They understand! Big Bill is bad news for NM. He thinks he is Machine Daley (#1) with a jet. At least Daley could deliver dead voters early and often. By David Lopez (Submitted: 11/04/2004 10:50 am) Allan, what does SODALA mean? I want to impress my daughter, who is taking a German class. Thanks. By Judy Yelsky (Submitted: 11/04/2004 10:39 am) I never implied that Gov. Richardson did not place NM first. He has stated publicly that NM is his priority. But, when W. comes calling for help in the foreign policy mess he created with N. Korea our Governor will be the one to bail him out. And all those NM republicans legislators need to move towards the center so there is a functioning legislative body that will work with the Gov. instead of stonewalling. By r martinez (Submitted: 11/04/2004 10:13 am) Ms. Yelsky - you suggest Richardson's preceived "national" political image is moare important than his state position? NO, he needs to stop paving his way to DX by stomping on New Mexico, afterall, he won over the jamority of the New Mexico vote, but he needs to read these tea leaves. If he were doing wonderful things here in NM, maybe he would have "deliverd" new Mexico like Kerry demanded. Anyone see the Channel 7 release of Kerry's comment? He apparently was angry or something because he had to worry about "New Mexico" and had to appear on a new NM news cast. True colors will come show. . . By Allan Pearson (Submitted: 11/04/2004 9:57 am) Sodala! I took all the trouble of going, at my own expense, from Northern Bavaria to the American Consulate in Munich to register/re-register to vote in Santa Fe County, sent an e-mail to the SF County Clerk to correct my mailing address, got my absentee ballot in plenty of time, sent it off in plenty of time, at exorbitant Germal postal rates, and my vote most likely still hasn't been counted yet. WHY DID I BOTHER? It has been most interesting watching American democracy at work from the perspective of living abroad for the last three years in a country of 82 million people, where 80% of them think Americans are fools. Keep up the good work! Allan N. Pearson Bayreuth, Germany By Judy Yelsky (Submitted: 11/04/2004 9:42 am) r Gov Richardson is indeed a national politician. When N. Korea blows W is going to have to turn to the Gov., as this is the ONLY person in our govenment the N. Koreans trust and will talk to. By Julian Sanchez (Submitted: 11/04/2004 9:36 am) Don't be so stipid Eric, New Mexico gets blame for any errors and you know it! So wake up!!! By (Submitted: 11/04/2004 9:14 am) And yes, as ussual, the democrates will steal this state for themselves by a nose, while acusing the Republicans for voter fraud. I wonder how many Democratic Cats, Dogs, and dead people voted. I would bet thousands. Greg Miller Santa Fe By Eric Scott (Submitted: 11/04/2004 9:01 am) Julian Sanchez, haven't heard from you in a while. Why don't you stop blaming New Mexico voters and start analizing the system? Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, has done an excellent job as did and are all election workers. It's not like she's blaming her daughter or anything after telling numerous lies to police, judges, and anyone else who may listen. A big THANK YOU to them from the public!!!!!!!! Edge By r martinez (Submitted: 11/04/2004 8:44 am) Instead of calling our youth a disapointment - Richardson needs to concentrate on New Mexico- he needs to LEAD our state in fixing not only the sloppy election procuedures (as I too heard quoted), but the education , the drunk driving problem, the welfare issues, the healcaree, need we contunue?? Billy Boy needs to remember he is governor of New Mexico - not a national candidate - or do us the favor and step down. New Mexicans have proved to be reight along the lines with the majority of Americans - and Richardson finds THAT unsettling? Poor Bill.... By Johnny Mata (Submitted: 11/04/2004 8:37 am) Well said folks. In fact those NM left wingers who want to push for abolishing the electoral college better think again. If that happened you would never see NM or its' Gov. on national TV again. What would Bill do then? I bet he would be in his posh NYC office more than ever, and that might be good for NM. By billy hyden (Submitted: 11/04/2004 8:35 am) So it is really sad that the New Mexico voters really didnt count because we just still havent counted them. Are we lazy or just extremely unorganized. Houston Texas has more than twice the voters than the whole state of New Mexico and they were all counted election night as was 99% of the rest of the country. By Julian Sanchez (Submitted: 11/04/2004 8:11 am) I have to agreed, New Mexico voting population is probably one of the smallest in number in the country and hadn't decided the winner as of yesterday. We've been on national news thought-out the election and it's embarrassing that we hadn't completed our homework. On MSNBC I heard we were a sloppy state when it comes to vote counting! By Dan Cordtz (Submitted: 11/04/2004 7:21 am) So much for Big Bill's machine... By Miguel Vigil (Submitted: 11/04/2004 7:18 am) Old Bill is in denial, after assuring the Democrat Party (on national TV no less) he would personally deliver the Hispanic and Native American vote and win NM by 1% or more. He didn't, 44% of the lobsters crawled out of Bill's pot, with more to come unless he changes his ways. He is not someone we listen to or blindly obey about how to vote as a monolithic block he thinks he controls. He needs to wake up and smell the posole, we are not his to broker anymore. By Derek Ziglar (Submitted: 11/04/2004 6:50 am) Brilliant. New Mexico has gone in the public eye from being a critical swing state to irrelevant issue. Our whole state has less voters than many COUNTIES on the east coast. Yet the Presidential election is over, everyone has gone home, and New Mexico is still scratching its head figuring out its position after that position has been reduced to nothing more that a historical footnote. We've got to do better if we are going to put this state on map in the policial and business world -- not just the tourist maps. By Julie Smithe (Submitted: 11/04/2004 3:41 am) "I'm a little disappointed in the youth vote" says Richardson. This is very upsetting to me. He should be proud the youth got out there and voted! Whether they are Dem. or Rep. hey, they voted! He should be proud that todays youths are finally finding an interest in our country and using their right to vote. And it shouldn't matter what party they vote for. On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 17:00:06 -0400, Marwan Saidi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Fair Warning... If you support Bush, you just might be offended by this rant from > Orlando Talk Show Host Jim Philips. > > If you are not a fan of Bush, well, you will enjoy. > > http://philips.wtks.com/philips_main.html > > Look for the links under "Jim Philips' Post Election Analysis (11/3/04)" > > Enjoy! > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Gold Sponsor - CFHosting.net http://www.cfhosting.net Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:134295 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
