The L.A. Times landed right here in the political twilight zone we call New Mexico politics, picking up on inverse situation of corruption in New Mexico being driven by Democrats compared to D.C., where Republican rule supreme. Wow. So we're really getting from both ends in New Mexico.
Local Ethics, D.C. Ethics: Both Key To N. Mexico Race - Los Angeles Times:
For all the Democratic enthusiasm, however, Madrid faces an uphill fight against the oft-tested and popular Wilson. To win, the Democrat acknowledges, she must turn the contest into a referendum on President Bush, the war in Iraq and the high gas prices that are especially burdensome in this spread-out state.
"Most every race I've ever run was a lot about me — what I've done, what I would do, how I compare," Madrid said during an hourlong interview in her campaign's scruffy headquarters, just a thrown hubcap from busy Interstate 25. "But this race is a little bit different."
Republicans disagree. They say the election is about local issues and the records of the two candidates, even as Wilson has been working hard to forge an image of independence from Bush.
The tension between local and national issues reflects the dynamic surrounding this year's midterm elections, when control of the House and Senate are at stake.
Democrats have made an alleged "culture of corruption" in Washington a major theme of their campaign nationally. But in a turnabout, it is Republicans who are trying to make ethics an issue in New Mexico, seizing on the corruption trial of a former state treasurer, the FBI probe of an ex-insurance superintendent and other criminal allegations swirling about a powerful former lawmaker.
"All of the current scandals that are just busting out all over New Mexico have happened under her watch," said Marta Kramer, executive director of the state GOP. The idea that Madrid was unaware of malfeasance is "absurd," Kramer said, an argument echoed in a recent Wilson TV spot.
Technorati Tags: Blogs, Congress, corruption, Democrats, DNC, Elections, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Patricia Madrid, Politics, reform, Republicans
Comments