Morning Word, 11-07-12

Election Results Edition

Morning Word

Election night is over. I was in KNME's studios for four hours and in that time, we found out who will occupy the White House next year, who will take over for U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman and who would replace Rep. Martin Heinrich. --- What we did not know yet was who controlled the state House, as several races look to be in recount. Martinez's bid to decapitate the Senate Democrats of their leadership had mixed results.

All in all, it was an excited election night on the local level if the federal level was a bit of a predictable snooze.

All of these races and more results in today's edition of the Word. Also, expect a more in-depth look at the state legislative races later this morning.

  • Barack Obama won reelection and
  • won New Mexico easily along the way
  • .
  • Martin Heinrich will replace Jeff Bingaman
  • Michelle Lujan Grisham will represent New Mexico's 1st Congressional District
  • .
  • Ben Ray Lujan and Steve Pearce won reelection
  • .
  • Lujan Grisham and Lujan winning means history:
  • As for the legislative races, we won't know about the House for a while. But Republicans made big gains in the state Senate, taking out two Democratic state Senate leaders -- but Martinez's white whale Michael Sanchez is still out there. The
  • Santa Fe New Mexican has a breakdown
  • .
  • Milan Simonich writes about
  • Sanchez winning while Sen. President Pro Tem Tim Jennings lost
  • .
  • At the time of this writing, the U.S. Senate race is closer than the around 8 percent that polling averages showed. But the polling by Public Opinion Strategies for the Wilson campaign was very, very wrong. Their polling showed Wilson around tied going into the final vote. Political observers all scoffed -- and for good reason.


  • If the margin remains what it is now, the Heinrich internal polling was also very wrong -- but it was wrong in line with all other polling.
  • Albuquerque voters approved
  • funding for improvements to the Paseo del Norte - I-25 interchange and the minimum wage proposal, the Albuquerque Journal reported.


  • The minimum wage proposal faced intense opposition from business interests but with nearly all precincts reporting, has a 66 percent to 34 percent lead. The Paseo bond issue is leading 65 percent to 35 percent.
  • The Sun-News looks at the exit polls and
  • says Hispanic voters pushed Obama to victory in New Mexico
  • . A CNN exit poll showed Obama winning Hispanics by a 64 percent to 29 percent margin.
  • Nationally, Romney got
  • just 27 percent of the Hispanic vote according to CNN exit polls
  • .
  • Judges appointed by Martinez didn't pass muster with voters,
  • as they both went down in elections Tuesday
  • .
  • District Judge Barbara Vigil of Santa Fe is pulling away from Justice Paul Kennedy in their race for the state Supreme Court.

    Another district judge, M. Monica Zamora of Albuquerque, was winning by an even bigger over Miles Hanisee, a judge on the Court of Appeals.
  • The Albuquerque Journal
  • looked at the constitutional amendments to change the Public Regulation Commission
  • and finds the amendment to require qualifications to be a commissioner easily cleared the vote.
  • The Alibi said the
  • mood was somber at the Republican election party
  • .
  • There’s a clear segment of the country that favors the policies of Romney, Bob continued. The fact that their candidate doesn’t win doesn’t bode well for the overall economic health of the country, he added. “I think we’re going to see that there’s an overwhelming number of counties that vote Republican, and it’s only the cities that vote Democrat,” he said. “You have an influx of people into cities who are dependent on government, and people who are not dependent on government leave the cities. And of course what’s happening now? Cities are going bankrupt.”
  • Democrats, meanwhile, were jubilant
  • according to the Alibi:
  • People spilled out of the ballrooms and into the hallways. About 2,000 Democrats attended the results watch party at the Embassy Suites in Albuquerque.

    Folks celebrated Democratic victories even before they were certain. Sam Bregman said at just after 8 p.m., still early in the evening, that presidential candidate Mitt Romney was "on the ropes" and would be defeated.
  • The Alibi continued its election night coverage by
  • speaking to Gov. Gary Johnson
  • , who didn't reach the five percent threshold in New Mexico.
  • Johnson is currently sitting at 1 percent nationally, which is good for the top third-party candidate, but not quite enough to beat the 1980 Libertarian Party ticket for best percentage (1.1 percent) by a Libertarian Party candidate.
  • Other votes in north-central New Mexico:
  • Voters in San Miguel County appear to have narrowly defeated a proposed increase in the gross receipts tax to pay for ambulance, emergency dispatch and behavioral health services, delivering a blow to county officials who had hoped to use the money to bolster emergency dispatch services.

    Mora County voters, meanwhile, overwhelmingly supported a similar measure on their ballots Tuesday, seemingly acknowledging the predicament their county government is in. Their current ambulance provider has announced that it is pulling out because it can no longer afford to provide the service.
  • Lines were very, very long in Rio Rancho
  • .
  • Wendy Wilkins, executive vice president and provost at New Mexico State University, used the mother of all news dump opportunities
  • to announce she is stepping down
  • .

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