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In large numbers, Republican legislators are speaking with a loud voice — endorsing Susana Martinez for Governor. Fully 25% of the GOP caucus supports Susana, while no other candidate has received a single endorsement. What makes these endorsements even more remarkable is that legislators are choosing Martinez over the candidacies of long-time party and political insiders. These legislators join Darren White, George P. Bush, and many others in recognizing that Susana Martinez is right candidate to defeat Diane Denish and deliver real change for New Mexico.
Martinez leads endorsement race
Analyst says endorsements help with credibility
By HEATH HAUSSAMEN
February 1st, 2010
The New Mexico Independent
Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez has been racking up endorsements from state legislators.
To date, she has the public backing of 25 percent of current Republican state senators and representatives – 10 of 40. With the exception of Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones obviously backing herself in the gubernatorial race, no other candidate in the Republican primary has the endorsements of any current state legislator.
What does it say that so many of the Republican lawmakers – the elected officials who will be working most closely with the next governor – are all getting behind the same gubernatorial candidate?..political analyst and pollster Brian Sanderoff said the endorsements probably help Martinez, the district attorney in the one county in the state that’s outside the Albuquerque media market – Doña Ana County.
“I think those endorsements are more valuable to a lesser-known candidate like Susana Martinez because it gives her that credibility, to demonstrate that she’s a player,” he said.
Martinez’s supporters
The 10 who have endorsed Martinez are:
• Rep. Zachary Cook of Ruidoso.
• Sen. Dianna Duran of Tularosa.
• Rep. Nora Espinoza of Roswell.
• Rep. Keith Gardner of Roswell, who is the minority whip.
• Rep. William Gray of Artesia.
• Sen. Steven Neville of Aztec.
• Rep. Dennis Roch of Tucumcari.
• Sen. Sander Rue of Albuquerque.
• Sen. John Ryan of Albuquerque.
• Sen. William Sharer of Farmington.
Sanderoff noted that the group is geographically diverse, but many of them are ideologically driven, so it makes sense that they’d get behind Martinez’s tough, anti-corruption campaign.
Gardner said there’s a more practical reason he’s backing Martinez. Making clear that he is only speaking for himself – and not as the House minority whip – Gardner said he believes Martinez is the candidate who can win in November.
Asked if endorsements make a difference, Gardner said, “I don’t know how much they help but I know they don’t hurt.”
“Most people don’t do that lightly. They don’t do it without thoughtful consideration, because frankly once you do that you’re married to that campaign,” he said. “We’ve got a corrupt state, and the only way we fix it is if we make a change in the executive branch, and that’s why I was willing to jump in.”
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House Minority Leader Tom Taylor, R-Farmington, said GOP legislators have “generally” followed people directly involved in the state and county Republican Party organizations in not endorsing candidates in primaries in the past.
“This time it’s sort of different, and there is no rule against that,” he said. “They’re free to decide whether they want to give that support.”
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Getting on the ballot
The main focus of candidates right now is securing the necessary support at the upcoming preprimary convention to appear on the ballot in June. That requires the votes of 20 percent of delegates. Those who fail in that task must gather a large number of signatures if they still want to appear on the ballot, but they also lose credibility among many party activists because they failed the organizational test of winning enough delegates’ support.
Sanderoff said securing that 20 percent at the preprimary convention is “a real organizational task that takes a lot of effort, and it can be done successfully with or without legislators.”
But he believes Martinez’s legislative endorsements will help her be taken more seriously by those delegates. It sounds as though that’s exactly what Martinez is planning.
“With so much at stake in this election, Republican legislators are coalescing behind the strongest candidate,” Martinez Campaign Manager Adam Deguire said. “While Susana is honored by the endorsements, she understands this will be a tough campaign and looks forward to working with these leaders to build a grassroots effort that will deliver real change in New Mexico this November.”
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