approval rankings

Where are you getting the nice pretty chart of approval ratings?
I haven't seen the chart approvals since December or so. is there a members only thing they are doing, cause if so, it is upsetting me greatly.

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by: trowaman @ Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 02:45:01 AM CDT

From the NM FBIHOP link...

Yeah, I'm not sure how you access the pretty charts anymore, either.  The SUSA approval tracking page is totally disorganized now--it sucks.

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by: James L. @ Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 20:11:47 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

dag n/t

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by: trowaman @ Sun Mar 25, 2007 at 01:58:10 AM CDT

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Only the beginning of Domenici's decline

So says the Guru:

The national MSM has even begun focusing more on Domenici's tentacle of the scandal octopus. And it's only beginning for Domenici. The MSNBC article notes the ongoing Senate Ethics investigation of Domenici. Should that garner more spotlight and, potentially, yield unflattering results for Domenici, that will expedite his decline in support. Now that Domenici's approval is on the downswing, it is the ideal time for Rep. Tom Udall or another top-tier Democrat to challenge him and force him to a decision.

And Domenici's decline has only begun to show up in polling - now that his role is becoming clear to the voters of New Mexico, we will hopefully see a continued slide.  To help hammer that nail:

Fired U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, David Iglesias, will appear on Meet the Press this Sunday. I wonder if Pajamas Pete Domenici's phone call will arise as a topic of conversation.

The question is: which Democrat would be best to step up to challenge Domenici and either force a retirement or take down super-conservative Rep. Steve Pearce as the Domenici-stand-in?

I'd suggest it's Rep. Tom Udall - both because he's great on the issues and by virtue of process of elimination:

Gov. Bill Richardson: Running for President, possibly Vice President
Lt. Gov. Diane Denish: Indications seem that she wants to run for Governor when Richardson is done more than Senate
Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez: Has said he'd only run if Domenici retired, but would support Domenici if he ran again - that doesn't sit well with me
Former NM AG Patricia Madrid: This may be unfair to Madrid, but it would look weird that the chief beneficiary of the scandal that took down Domenici and, ostensibly Heather Wilson, was Wilson's recent opponent.  Also, Madrid has publicly been commenting on her thoughts on the situation, which also doesn't sit well, for different reasons.

Check out the Guru's blog at http://www.senateguru.com

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by: senate2008guru @ Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 10:15:36 AM CDT

I agree

Udall is definitely the only real candidate to give us a fighting chance for the seat, and if Domenici does retire, I don't believe I'm going out on a limb to say that Udall would be the favorite over Steve Pearce.

(Just so you know, I was getting all the numbers earlier, but my computer decided to crap out on me, but I really think this is necessary, so here they are again) (Also, all the numbers I got from CNN's website)

2006 House Election

Udall (D): 75% (142,993)
Dolin (R): 25% (48,742)

Compared to:

Pearce (R):  60% (90,169)
Kissling (D): 40% (60,496)

And just to make sure that wasn't just because of the good Democratic year:

2004 House Elections

Udall (D):  69% (175,269)
Tucker (R): 31% (79,935)

Compared to:

Pearce (R): 60% (130,498)
King (D):  40% (86,292)

The third district seems to support Udall more than the second district supports Pearce, not to mention the fact the people voting in the third district are consistantly outnumbering the voting population in the second district. This means the only way Pearce could hope to win is by claiming a large number of votes out of the first district and despite the fact it keeps electing Heather Wilson, it is a Democratic-leaning district, Pearce would need to win the district by at least a 55-45 margin, and with his record, I don't think it's possible.

Your go-to source for great sarcasm

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by: DGM @ Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 21:09:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well, any sensible Democrat can beat Pearce

To clarify, I think any common-sense Democrat can beat Pearce because Pearce is simply too far to the right to win statewide.

Pearce would have to defend votes against five of six key pieces of the Democrats First 100 Hours Agenda this year, including votes against raising the minimum wage, implementing the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, and taking steps to lower prescription drug costs.

Other Democrats wouldn't be "bad" to run against Pearce (or to jump in now against Domenici!), but Udall would be the best.  And, if the NM-GOP has to resort to Pearce for a statewide run, they're toast.

Check out the Guru's blog at http://www.senateguru.com

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by: senate2008guru @ Sun Mar 25, 2007 at 10:29:22 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I agree with Pearce, not with Domenici

So, I'm personally making sure we have someone who could take on an incumbent senator (of course, in that case, I'd much rather have Richardson, but since he's running for president and will probably go for the VP seat in the end, I'm not counting on him).

Udall has enough of a base to run against, because although I agree with you on Pearce, Domenici may still decide to run and if he weakens enough, we need someone who has a strong base to oppose him, don't forget, Domenici, no matter how deep the scandal becomes, has been our senator for over thirty years, and that's definitely still going to attract a good deal of support.

Your go-to source for great sarcasm

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by: DGM @ Sun Mar 25, 2007 at 11:00:26 AM CDT

[ Parent ]