Extraordinary Democrat Boast of the Day
(Albuquerque, NM) – Yesterday the Washington Times reported this howler <http://www.washtimes.com/national/20061126-122458-7778r.htm> :
New Mexico’s Democratic chairman, John Wertheim, said additional organizers and funds provided by Mr. Dean increased party turnout and helped Democrats make “huge gains in the state legislature and win control of all but one constitutional office in the state.”
Huge gains? In the best year for Democrats since Watergate, New Mexico Democrats couldn’t win a DNC top-5 target in the Democrat-leaning NM-1 despite millions of dollars poured into the race, and local Democrats were only able to maintain the status quo in the legislature and statewide offices. When the dust settled, the same number of state legislative seats held by the GOP going into the election remained in GOP hands. All the while the GOP kept the one statewide office it held, and what isn’t written lately is just how competitive Republicans were in three other statewide races where Democrats normally expect to win by 60%, but didn’t.
“In terms of statewide offices New Mexico Republicans—against the Democrats’ overwhelming edge in voter registration—gave every Democratic candidate except the incumbent governor a run for their money and they know it,” said Chris Atencio, political director for the Republican Party of New Mexico. “So, if the Democrat state chairman is unable to spin his fictitious accomplishments in New Mexico where everyone knows better, he’s reduced to offering his extraordinary boasts to a national newspaper in the hope that no one outside our state notices his mendacity.”
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