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Heinrich, Balderas have made each other better
Heath Haussamen
Martin Heinrich and Hector Balderas are the future leaders of the Democratic Party, and during this U.S. Senate primary they’ve pushed each other to become better public servants.
Some Democrats and Republicans hope their favored candidates can avoid primaries and save money for general election contests. But I’ve always thought the experience gained from a tough primary is worth more than the money avoiding a primary saves.
The Democratic U.S. Senate contest is a good example.
Martin Heinrich is likely to be the party’s nominee. He raised more than $490,000 during the last quarter and ended March with $1.55 million on hand. Hector Balderas, by contrast, raised $127,000 and ended March with $395,000 in the bank.
Balderas never had to raise as much as Heinrich to compete. He has underdog and Hispanic appeal that will provide him a boost on June 5. And he’s getting lots of free media from his work as state auditor to fight corruption in Sunland Park.
But Balderas needed to raise more money than this.
So the likely scenario is that Heinrich will face Republican Heather Wilson in November, and Balderas will start thinking about what he’s going to do when his tenure as state auditor comes to an end in two years. Running for attorney general or governor are possibilities.
The Democratic Party was in disarray following former Gov. Bill Richardson’s scandal-plagued tenure and Diane Denish’s loss to Republican Susana Martinez in the 2010 gubernatorial race.
It’s time to rebuild, and though there are other Democrats on the rise, Heinrich and Balderas are, without question, among the future leaders of the party. Both have grown during this campaign.
Forcing each other to grow
Wilson rarely makes mistakes. She’s smart, quick and sharp. Neither Democrat was ready to face her when the U.S. Senate race began.
Balderas has campaigned as a native New Mexican who grew up in a tiny rural town and in poverty. Even if the polls haven’t reflected it, likeability was in Balderas’ favor because, as his campaign claims, New Mexicans love underdogs.
Had Balderas been able to raise enough money to compete with Heinrich, this would be a much different race.
Balderas has forced Heinrich to hone his message and think beyond the largely metropolitan area he’s represented in the U.S. House. Though Heinrich’s congressional district has included some small towns like Edgewood, there’s a difference between those towns and rural communities like Jal and Wagon Mound, Balderas’ hometown.
Heinrich, who was raised in rural Missouri by working-class parents, had what it took to compete in rural New Mexico, but Balderas pushed him to focus on developing it.
Heinrich has also pushed Balderas. He’s better versed on the issues than the state auditor. He’s more articulate and polished. Though too much of that can be a negative, particularly in rural New Mexico, too little of it can damage a candidate’s credibility.
As the recent profiles in the Albuquerque Journal showed (Balderas’ here and Heinrich’s here), Balderas can now hold his own. I’m looking forward to a TV debate.
During this campaign, Balderas has built a statewide network, raised enough money to run a credible campaign, become more articulate and learned a lot about policy.
Ready to take on Republicans
The Democratic U.S. Senate primary isn’t over. Heinrich’s campaign could implode or Balderas could suddenly raise enough cash to flood the airwaves with as many TV ads as Heinrich will. But that’s not likely.
Heinrich is probably going to face Wilson in November. And he’s in a much better position to compete with her because he had to first defeat Balderas.
Balderas is well-positioned to help his party rebuild following the devastating (for Democrats) 2010 election and in an era in which Martinez remains quite popular. He’s ready to jump into the governor’s race, if that’s what he chooses, and fight for the right to take on Martinez in 2014.
Democrats, these two are the future leaders of your party, and during this campaign they’ve pushed each other to become better public servants. Your party will be better because of it.
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I am a moderate to conservative Democrat….
And I’m the Queen of England.
You perfectly illustrate the problem with the electorate, Dr. J: People don’t actually think. They don’t analyze, they don’t look at evidence, they don’t consider facts and theories.
You say: … tax and spend, pork barrel ways and his Pelosi lapdog reputation … a cliff of mediocrity and incompetence … it’s like a car wreck … the deceptions of a fake campaign … also laughable …
That’s all name calling. There’s not a single bit of reality based argument in the whole comment. At best it’s analysis by metaphor, but desccribing something with a metaphor isn’t the same thing as understanding it.
Here’s an example of what constitutes a complete “thought” for voters today: I love Griego’s ads with the old lady saying Griego won’t let the evil Repubs take away Medicare to give money to millionaires, geesh how juvenile and trite, …
No evidence, no logic, just name calling. Saying it’s “juvenile and trite” wholly ignores the rational question: is it true? For too many voters, the whole question of “is it true?” simply doesn’t cross their mind.
As long as voters aren’t interested in what’s true we can expect a candidate to hide “his strengths and his best policies from the public” – because the public doesn’t actually care about policies and strengths. I agree with Mr Goodenow that this is utterly deplorable, but I also find it perfectly comprehensible and predictable.
Extremely well said Mr. Goodenow, almost exactly as I think, save for one caveat. I am a moderate to conservative Democrat and could not stand to vote for Marty, given his tax and spend, pork barrel ways and his Pelosi lapdog reputation. I cannot follow the party off a cliff of mediocrity and incompetence as well as political and policy views that hurt our state and nation. But I will continue to watch this non-campaign, it’s like a car wreck you can’t turn away. It will go down as the worst run campaign by both candidates in NM primary history, and I will also remember Mr. Balderas in the future having wasted so much of my money in this race by the deceptions of a fake campaign. But the sorry campaigns of Griego, the other Marty, and Ms. L-G are also laughable. I love Griego’s ads with the old lady saying Griego won’t let the evil Repubs take away Medicare to give money to millionaires, geesh how juvenile and trite, almost as bad as Ms. L-G’s depictions of evil rich people on private jets getting all our money and how she will stop it, right.
This will be my final comment on this primary race, cuz I can’t stand thinking about the mediocrity that Heinrich and Balderas have perpetrated on us when they both could have engaged in an extraordinary discussion of life-changing policies that would rebuild this nation.
Martin Heinirch will in all likelihood win on June 5. The things that bother me about him pale in comparison to the thought of having a Republican Senator instead of Martin Heinrich, so I’ll rally will almost all Democrats in the state and enthusiastically vote for Martin Heinrich in November.
I hope that Hector Balderas learns from this failure to never again surround himself with people content to run a mediocre campaign on his behalf. Whether Hector runs for Governor in 2014 or waits four years (and perhaps runs for Attorney General first), Hector must run a campaign for Governor from Day One that reflects the fact that he is a bold, inspirational, and transformational leader. The fact that his Senate campaign has hidden his strengths and his best policies from the public is an incomprehensible and huge mistake that Hector must never allow to happen to him again.
On a deeper level, the tragedy of this primary campaign has reinforced my belief that we must have fundamental and sweeping campaign finance reform at the federal level. The tragedy of watching our state’s two best leaders get lost for an entire year raising money on the phone — when both of them were capable of Kennedy-caliber visionary campaigns about the future of this country and the major challenges facing us as a nation — has been searing for me to watch unfold. It’s hard for me to stay angry or disgusted with either Martin or Hector because deeper down I have empathy for both of them and even feel sorry for the way the fundraising game of our current political system has undermined them both and kept both of them from being the best they can be.
But I intend to tune it out for the remaining four weeks. It’s unbearable.
I think Balderas has the potential to be an awesome Governor as well Mr. Goodenow. And I also think the only thing that will prevent him from doing so is choosing the wrong people to run his campaign and by aligning himself with the wrong people. Please Auditor Balderas, audit your associations – you may start by doing background checks on individuals thru http://www.nmcourts.com. It’s simple, free, and potentially career saving!
best State Auditor in the United States * I meant to say
Well, Balderas and Heinrich each has his first ad up.
Heinrich comes across as shockingly robotic, which is not what he’s like in person.
Balderas’s good is ad, but covers a lot of ground in 30 seconds (Wagon Mound, State Auditor, education), so it’s hard to say what people will remember from it.
This remains one of the worst U.S. Senate primaries in modern times.
Heinrich used to be a thoughtful guy and he seemed to have the potential to be a statesman. But he’s running an empty and meaningless campaign about nothing. Spending 100% of his time raising money, a lot of it from Wall Street, Defense manufacturers, casino interests, etc. etc. One suspects he’s losing his vision and perhaps even his soul as he gets better and better at playing the Washington game. In a sense it’s not his fault. This is what our political system has become. So I suppose I should forgive him.
Balderas, wow, what incredible potential. Best State Auditor in New Mexico. If you talk with him in person and ask him questions, he has one of the best policy agenda in America. And he’s a courageous and independent leader of great integrity. He’s even inspirational. But his campaign team is running the most pedestrian campaign, not supporting him at all, seemingly blind to all of his strengths as a leader. I’ve never seen such serious political malpractice in my life.
Heinrich will almost certainly be the nominee, and Balderas will most likely go on to be the best Governor in the history of New Mexico. Balderas still has a 4% chance probably to pull off a miracle. If his campaign team lets Hector be HEctors and builds the campaign entirely around him — not likely to happen if it hasn’t happened yet, but it’s possible.
It’s a mystery. How can you have this amazing leader and run such a horrible campaign on his behalf. No one even knows of Balderas’s awesome policy agenda. It’s not even on his website. It’s a tragedy, and I personally blame Balderas campaign manager Caroline Buerkle.
Amazingly, though, Martin Heinrich is running such a lame campaign that Hector still has a chance. It’s like watching a trainwreck, really, the two most promising leaders of our generation in this state being so exhuasted by fundraising that they have no time to think about the future of the country or policies that will transform our quality of life — and if they do, their campaign teams don’t even tell us about it. It’s almost a farce, this Senate primary. I never dreamed I’d ever watch anything this bad unfold in front of my eyes.
I agree Hemingway, if Balderas is not going to actually campaign and run, he should just step aside, he is just wasting people’s money and time otherwise.
Personally I like Mr. Hector Balderas. He should run for governor. He would make an outstanding candidate. However in this Senate race it is time to step down and unite around Congressman Heinrich. Democrats don’t need a divisive party. That is just the facts and reality of the situation.
Dr. J, in fairness to Mr. Heinrich, I may have overstated that a bit.
In June 2009, after ProPublica documented 1,000 cases of contaminated water near fracking sites, Congressman Heinrich said at a public hearing, “we had zero cases of usable ground water contaminated.” However, he also said, “we have a number of cases of surface water contaminated from products.”
One progressive group has criticized Heinrich for not co-sponsoring the anti-fracking bill in Congress.
And Common Cause warns us that Heinrich has taken thousands of dollars from natural gas producers / fracking interests.
I put these three things together and said Heinrich is pro-fracking and pro-super-fracking, when it is more accurate to say that Heinrich has been very soft on fracking.
Mr. Goodenow says: ”Martin Heinrich supports toxic fracking and super-toxic super-fracking.” Wow! Do the numerous enviro-lobbyists like League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, etc. know about that? They have given him tens of thousands of $$ and are under the impression he supports their anti-business, anti-oil company agendas. Bet they would like to know.
I think it’s a stretch to say these candidates have helped each other grow.
We had high hopes for these two leaders a year ago. They were the budding statesmen of our generation, the best and the brightest, the two most promising leaders in our state.
But they have run the most content-free and meaningfuless U.S. Senate campaign in modern times. No agenda for the future of America. No agenda that will impact our families and our ability to thrive economically.
It is shameful that no televised debates are scheduled.
So Martin Heinrich raised $2.5 million and Hector Balderas raised $1 million. THe donors have spoken. Now we the voters will have our say.
I finally began to see five differences and a set of concerns about Heinrich’s voting record that have helped me decide to vote for Hector Balderas:
1. Hector Balderas has taken no money from the PACs for corporations or lobbyists. Martin Heinrich has taken nearly $1 million from the PACs for corporations and lobbyists since 2007 and several hundred thousand dollars in this Senate race. Heinrich’s backers include the Defense manufacturers he is supposed to be overseeing, Wall Street and other finance firms he is supposed to be holding accountable, casinos, etc. His financial godfather is Mastercard lobbyist Robert Raben. This is a matter of integrity and independence — and trust. Martin Heinrich talks the talk. Hector Balderas walks the walk. Hector Balderas can walk into the U.S. Senate beholden to no one, and can serve the people of our state with his independence and integrity 100% intact.
2. Hector Balderas will make education and job training his top priority in the U.S. Senate. Martin Heinrich has never cared about education or training during his career. He doesn’t even have an issue page on his website on the topic.
3. Hector Balderas will become our nation’s #1 watchdog in Congress. Hector Balderas will bring reform and help bring more accountability to Wall Street and corporations as well as Washington and the federal government. Hector has proven his courage, independence, integrity and effectiveness in his 5 and a half years as the best State Auditor in America. And he knows it’s Congress’s job to provide oversight of the nation’s corporations.
4. Hector Balderas will preserve the benefits that our families rely on and push for new investments in economic growth while helping our nation get on the path to a balanced budget through smart budget cuts. In my view, Martin Heinrich will never help us get to a balanced budget. As far as I can see, deficit reduction is not important to him.
5. Hector Balderas is an inspirational leader. Like Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, Hector Balderas is a uniquely inspirational leader. He’s even a bit heroic.
6. There are things about Martin Heinrich’s voting record that should concern us. Martin Heinrich supports for-profit schools at the expense of our public schools. Martin Heinrich supports toxic fracking and super-toxic super-fracking. Martin Heinrich supports the 2010 surge that is significantly prolonging of the war in Afghanistan. Martin Heinrich has been a national leader in pushing our nation toward war with Iran. Martin Heinrich voted for roving wiretaps in the PATRIOT Act. And Martin Heinrich is cosponsoring the bill to force Washington, D.C., to make military-style semi-automatic assault weapons legal on the streets of our nation’s capital.
I honestly don’t know where Hector Balderas stands on any of these issues, but these things concern me about Martin Heinrich. I think he is wrong on every count.
For these six reasons, I am voting for Hector Balderas for U.S. Senate.
Some of this is good Heath, other parts are wishful thinking and “happy” talk. First of all, my party badly needs more position diversity and balance left to right, neither of these candidates provide that. They are twins when it comes to positions, outlook, opinions, world views. etc.(and to think I wasted a bunch of money thinking there was a difference, fool me once..), and thus they have nothing to use as a contrast or distinction from one another. Same, same, plain identical. Ethnicity and birthplace, are not great distinctions to those of us who could care less about it, since it doesn’t matter, and has no bearing on abilities, I do know some disagree with that and care much about them, which shows the issue. Neither of these two has talked about the other, just constant railing against the enemy Repubs. Both have motives here, beyond the orders issued by party bosses not to say anything negative about any Democrat. Heinrich is the odds on favorite, has huge special interest money from out of state, and thus doesn’t have to even acknowledge his opponent. Balderas is playing the good Democrat, currying favor for future politics from party bosses, and just getting some experience and name recognition. He also has nothing to lose here since he will have a job after the primary and thus is risking nothing using other people’s money for his exposure opportunities. What’s not to like in running for something? As far as becoming better “public servants” because of this non-race, please, they are about as far from public servants as they could be, out for themselves like most all politicians, not for the public.