NM Pop Politics

Many of you Blockwatchers probably woke up this morning, saw Jerome Block Jr’s 56.2 to 43.8 win over Rick Lass, and shrieked.  You’ve probably decided that the worst offense Block’s committed throughout his campaign was tarnishing Obama’s victory last night. Obama called for a change in the politics is played, while Block played the game as old school as it gets: avoid debates, cruise on the family name, lie aboutyour credentials and cook the campaign finance books.

As far as the numbers went: Although Lass pulled off the 60 percent (actually 62.7 percent) he said needed in Santa Fe County to win, his overall showing in every other county (except Los Alamos, where he pulled 61.2 percent) came in short. Perhaps most notably (or suspiciously) was Lass’ 41draw in San Miguel County; Lass was hoping for major wins among Las Vegas Dems disgusted by County Clerk Paul Maez’ involvement in Blockgate.

We do need to check on some of the numbers that seem kind of iffy: For example, in Bernalillo, barely 3,500 people voted in the Democratic D3 PRC primary; more than 27,000 voted in the general. In Sandoval, less than 5,000 voted in the Demoratic PRC primary. Close to 40,000 voted in the general.

Don’t despair. Remember, there is a widely spread conspiracy theory that if Attorney General Gary King comes after Block with a fourth-degree felony charge, the young man will resign and Gov. Bill Richardson–who prominently avoided endorsing Block–will appoint a more qualified successor that hasn’t been caught red-handed betraying the public trust.

I wouldn’t hold your breath. If yesterday Obama’s line was “We don’t need your boos, we just need your vote,” then SFR’s line today is “We don’t need your despair, we just need your eyes.”

In the next few days, Jerome Jr.’s final campaign finance reports will be in. They’ll need to be combed through, of course. The big question on SFR’s mind is whether he has $10,700 left in his public fund to return to the state. He has another week or so to turn that (as well as $11,000 in fines) over to the state. Furthermore, there is no mechanism for the public to monitor how Block raises the $10,700 he’ll need to pay out of pocket - so, you’ll want to keep out for any suspicious gifts or windfalls that come his way.

Mostly, though, if and when Block plants his ass in Ben Ray Lujan’s chair, we’ll need y’all to watch his votes very carefully, particularly in regards to Pojoaque Pueblo, which had a huge rule in Block’s campaign (mailers, for example, were sent out by company that lists the gov’t offices as its address; that’s not to mention dealings between the pueblo and Block’s father’s employer Mescalero Apache Telecom).

OK, more analysis later….

UPDATE: Actually those Sandoval and Bernalillo numbers look OK compared 2004. Some of the other counties look a little low, though, but nothing immediately alarming.