New Mexico’s next big election isn’t until November 2012, but the primary is less than a year away—and candidates are already out there hustling for money and votes.

Though city elections won’t be held until March, candidates for the four open Santa Fe City Council seats are already signing up for what promises to be a horse race. So far, District 1, where Councilor Patti Bushee faces re-election, has been drawing the most attention.

During a crowded City Council meeting on Aug. 30, many citizens voiced support for opening the idle Zia Road New Mexico Rail Runner Express station. But a handful of residents were there for a different purpose

As thoroughly reprehensible as the Right’s slavishness to wealth and power is, the fact that it took a financial meltdown for economic justice to even begin to replace welfare reform on the political agenda suggests progressives need to do a bit of navel-gazing.

Two authors explore the faults of progressive politics and the internalization of corporatocracy this week: One through blunt analysis of privileged progressives and another through a step-by-step challenge to the entrenchment of corporate influence.

A comprehensive look at voter behavior and demographics reveals a momentous prospect: a Hispanic electorate that turns out to vote en masse, allies itself strongly with one political party and changes America’s political balance for decades.

Despite what some describe as an unproductive, highly politicized session, state lawmakers passed a range of bills this year. They banned corporal punishment in New Mexico schools, for one. They established the state’s first health insurance exchange. They passed a requirement that will enable New Mexicans to see exactly who benefits from the state’s labyrinthine tax code.

When US Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, announced his retirement on Feb. 18, speculation about his successor immediately abounded.

The winning candidates in the recent SFPS board elections shared a clear campaign message: change.  But it’s easier to make political promises than it is to actually achieve them.  Hence the need for SFR’s handy checklist, in which we offer the incoming school board concrete, achievable jumping-off points.