Martinez wins straw poll following Clovis forum
Susana Martinez
Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez easily won a straw poll taken following a candidate forum Thursday evening in Clovis.
Of 139 people who cast votes, Martinez had 42.4 percent, while Allen Weh had 18 percent, Doug Turner had 15.8 percent, Janice Arnold-Jones had 12.2 percent and Pete Domenici Jr. had 11.5 percent, according to the Clovis News-Journal.
Straw polls aren’t scientific and the results should not be interpreted as an indicator of what Republican voters in Clovis think of the candidates. But straw polls can be a test of organizational strength and, when they follow forums as this one did, might also be a measure of what those in attendance thought.
According to the newspaper, the candidates agreed on a lot of things during the forum, including ideas to sell the Rail Runner, reduce exempt positions and elect a Republican as the next governor.
“I’m sure you’re all here,” the newspaper quoted Turner as saying, “because you don’t support Diane Denish.”
Weh was the only candidate to send out a news release following Thursday’s forum. It stated that he received a “warm welcome, much encouragement from debate attendees in Clovis.”
“I intend to change the way we do business in Santa Fe and get this state’s economy back on track,” Weh said in the release. “At the end of it, state government will be smaller, leaner and more efficient. And when I’m done being your governor, I’m going home – the way our Founding Fathers intended it to be.”
The next forum for the Republican gubernatorial candidates will he held Saturday in Albuquerque from 6:30-9 p.m. at Smith-Brasher Auditorium on the Central New Mexico Community College campus. It’s being sponsored by the Albuquerque Tea Party.
The forum will be broadcast live on KIVA 1550-AM.
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Let me clarify for SF Observer: in many counties, Democrats and Republicans are electing their representatives to go to their respective state pre-primary conventions at this time, and many of those delegates are committed to one or another candidate even before they go. The 41 votes that Ms. Martinez got at the Clovis forum do not directly translate to 41 delegates who support her going to the Republican state pre-primary convention.
Actually, Clovis is a city, not a county. I should have said the Republican Party of Curry County.
Susana Martinez is well known in the northern climes of the state as a hard line prosecutor, but fair. when she becomes Governor we will have the best in office. Wait till the fat lady sings and we will know how many people were dissatisfied with Richardson and Denish.
She has more backing than many people can even imagine.
Excellent…winning the top slot in a rural NM straw poll with all 5 GOP candidates present…all part of the strategy…more to come
This was the first debate for the candidates and it came in front of a group where none of them had an obvious advantage (wasn’t in Las Cruces, nor in Albuquerque). For Martinez to score this lopsided of a victory, she clearly performed head and shoulders above her competitors and was very persuasive.
Note that neither wedum59 or politicalguy were at the forum and are probably not members of the Patriots organization. I think you’d find the political make-up of the group quite interesting if you took off the blinders and actually investigated. This was a test of a candidate’s strength, and clearly Martinez came out on top.
The straw poll was not at all representative of Republicans, as wedum59 said. Most were likely independents, and the candidate who was willing to pander to the “Patriots” in the crowd won the poll. It’s as simple as that.
Note that this event was sponsored by the High Plains Patriots, not the Clovis County Republican Party, so it doesn’t directly translate into votes at the Republican statewide pre-primary convention.