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The Republican State Convention, A Comprehensive Report: Successes, Failures, Surprises, and the Expected. A Review of Speeches and Performances.

03/23/2020

Delegates of the Republican Party of New Mexico (RPNM) gathered at the Hotel Albuquerque on Friday evening, 6 March, for their State Pre-Primary Nominating Convention which was held Saturday morning, March 7th. The convention is for candidates who seek statewide or congressional offices.

Only those candidates who have gathered signatures equal to 2% of their party's total votes cast in its previous gubernatorial primary may compete in the pre-primary convention. The New Mexico pre-primary convention law then requires those candidates for statewide offices and congressional seats to receive 20% of the delegate vote to be "certified" as convention-designated nominees for the primary. 

The first thing we have to say is that the convention was very well run, efficient, on-time, with no glitches of any kind that we took note of. 

Steve Pearce started the whole thing off, which as state chairman was certainly appropriate. He hawked his autobiography, which was on prominent display, though we never saw anyone buy one.

It's available in thrift stores in southeastern New Mexico for 25 to 50 cents, though to be fair, many many books are sold at that price, not just Pearce's. But Pearce did give a good, solid, rousing speech, which was fairly well-received, though certain sectors did not respond as we thought the theme merited. 

Candidate Speeches and Results

Congressional District 1

Michelle Garcia Holmes led off, making an okay speech with frequent referrals to notes, indicating some unfamiliarity with her message. She was well-received as the bulk of Albuquerque delegates present in their home town venue were in support of her candidacy.

Brett Kokinadis delivered an okay speech as well, though he also had to constantly refer to notes and was not as well-prepared as others. His themes were generally not in sync with the views of the overall convention crowd. This was probably predictable, given that he's only been a Republican for five months and his views still by and large reflect his life-long Democrat leanings.

It's one thing to change parties—that happens all the time. But in most cases, the change is made because a person realizes that his or her current party does not match his or her actual worldview or political philosophy. It is not clear if this is the case with Kokinadis, or if he instead intends to lead the GOP to embrace new policy positions it doesn't currently hold.

Attendees also told us he was hurt by an abrupt switch from the CD3 primary to CD1 that they claimed had the appearance of opportunism rather than sincerity.     

Jared Vander Dussen finished the three-candidate set by giving a well-prepared speech with no notes and he never looked down or anyplace else other than to his audience. He was one of two candidates to accomplish this (Yvette Herrell was the other). He made a generally very good impression.

RESULT:  Holmes 135 (63.4%) Vander Dussen 64 (30.3%) Kokinadis 14 (6.6%). Holmes won an impressive victory, with Vander Dussen coming through with a very respectable showing, and Kokinadis receiving very little support. By all accounts, it went about as expected, though some were surprised that Kokinadis did very very poorly, believing he had a real chance to reach 20%. 

Congressional District 2

Claire Chase was introduced by her husband, and then gave a pretty good speech, with a certain degree of energy and was well received. It must be noted, however, that at the 3-minute 50-second mark, Chase's microphone was cut off. She is the only candidate who received this treatment, though others did go past the 3½-minute time limit.

When that happened, Chase maintained her poise and reacted with grace, something the audience seemed to appreciate.

Yvette Herrell was introduced by Couy Griffin, who has built up a business enterprise called Cowboys for Trump* and has a certain following in the state.  Griffin gave a rousing, well-received speech, as did Herrell. In fact, it could be said that Herrell actually knocked it out of the park.

She had clearly spent a lot of time rehearsing the speech—which is something every convention candidate should do, but few actually accomplish. It paid off, and she was probably the best-received candidate on that date.

However, it must be noted that Herrell went all the way to 3 minutes 54 seconds (four seconds longer than Chase) and her mike was not cut. (So there was non-uniform treatment of candidates in that respect.)

Chris Mathys showed up with a hat—something we believe is usually not a good look (with the possible exception of a Land Commissioner or County Sheriff candidate). It wasn't a cowboy hat, but some sort of odd, exotic style. He gave a reasonable speech, but not anything that would move the crowd.

RESULT:  Herrell 168 (66.1%) Chase 83 (32.7%) Mathys 3 (1.2%). While Herrell's victory was reasonably impressive, it was also very much expected, as Steve Pearce had led a contingent of about a hundred people in Lea County that took over their county convention and had secured at least 90% of the delegates there.

[NOTE: Though he has escaped notice thus far (probably because disadvantaged candidates do not wish to file a formal complaint against their own state chairman) Pearce has left himself open to being cited for violations of §1-19-1 of the New Mexico Election Code.]

Pearce has engaged in similar operations, in several contested primaries, but perhaps most noticeably in the CD2 race. His involvement—and the active, ongoing involvement of the RPNM on behalf of Herrell—has been so extensive that most observers were thinking that the effort to keep Chase from reaching the 20% threshold might be successful.

Given that context, Chase's showing exceeded most people's expectations and her campaign was clearly happy to emerge with convention designation. Mathys' showing was about as expected, though perhaps a higher single figure of total votes was expected.

Congressional District 3

Audra Lee Brown appeared in a cowboy hat and delivered a reasonable speech. She got some laughs from the crowd and developed a good rapport. We later learned from a close observer that the rationale for the hat was not the cowboy motif so favored by Gavin Clarkson et.al, but rather to obscure a rainbow-colored coif that might otherwise be viewed as off-putting. In any case, Brown's speech was pretty well delivered. 

Karen Evette Bedonie, who is Navajo, brought a considerable entourage to the stage and made an appeal that was somewhat heavy on identity politics.

This is a somewhat risky tactic in conservative settings where the voters believe politics is about ideas and a candidate's stands on issues rather than overt appeals to demographic subgroups of the population. Bedonie did pretty well and seemed to make a connection with the crowd.

Anise Golden-Morper, newly back on the ballot and fresh off an easy victory over a poor ruling by the Secretary of State (who seems continuously power-hungry and overreaching) brought something of a defiant mood to the stage.

Because she is only 4' 6", the lectern had to be moved back and off to her right so she could be in full view of the convention audience. She displayed a lot of energy, but—perhaps understandably—devoted too much time to her court victory and not quite enough to the great national issues to which a congressional candidate should be attuned. Still, she made a solid impression overall.

Alexis M. Johnson made what sounded like the best-outlined and maybe the best-scripted speech of the day (with the possible exception of Herrell's). Unfortunately, in the hubbub surrounding Golden-Morper's visibility, when the lectern was moved back into place, the microphone was left dangling to the right and down and away from the speaker. Either that or her nominating speaker left it in an awkward position.

In any case, Johnson did not make an effort to ensure that she and her microphone were in sync. As a result, the volume of her voice ranged between very low to a light, mid-range level.

As she came in and out, it definitely appeared she was giving the right inflection and proper emphasis to have a desired effect, but much of that effect, if not most of it was missed, and therefore lost on the audience. The people right in front of her did react more strongly than most of the nearly 700 who had gathered in the room. It was an unfortunate turn of events for her.

Harry B. Montoya was introduced by former Congressman Bill Redmond, an experienced hand whose first move on the podium was to take control of the microphone with his hand and adjust it, and even holding it while he spoke.

We usually don't believe introductory speeches are the way to go (they take time away from the candidate, who, after all, is the subject on trial) but Redmond's recognition of the mike problem did a great deal for Montoya.

Montoya was also accompanied by an enormous entourage, one that included quite a few natives of northern pueblos. They appeared to be making it clear that Bedonie, whatever identity she may invoke, does not have a lock on the Native American vote. (It may be lost on some, but there exists a certain degree of, shall we say "disconnect" between Pueblos and the Diné—which reflects long-standing, somewhat uneasy relationships.)

Montoya made a good speech on his own and connected.

RESULT:  Montoya 86 (35.6%) Bedonie 69 (30.9%) Golden-Morper 39 (17.5%) Johnson 25 (11.2%) Brown 4 (1.8%). Montoya's victory may have caught some off-guard, as he has been attacked pretty strongly for being another recent convert.

He left the Democrat Party only 11 months ago, after more than 35 years a Democrat and having served two terms as a Democrat Santa Fe County Commissioner.

His opponents claim he switched only because the state Democratic Party told him he had no place to run as a pro-life candidate and was unwelcome as a potential congressional candidate. This did not seem to hurt him among convention-goers, though it may as the primary campaign continues.

Bedonie's operation is very well organized, and, according to most observers, is far and away the nastiest—and said to be in league with US Senate candidate Elisa Martinez, whose surrogates and spokespersons are also running an extremely nasty and overwhelmingly negative campaign, especially in social media.

Both of those candidates, who seem to be running as a team, may eventually face a backlash from primary voters disgusted with their social media operations. 

Whether it has come about via negativity or some sort of true grassroots support, Bedonie clearly has a formidable organization. Golden-Morper was clearly upset with her showing and dropped out of the race within a few days. Audra Brown did the same, having garnered only 4 votes.

For her part, Alexis Johnson vowed to continue the campaign. As the candidate who probably comes off more eloquently conservative Republican than any of the remaining three in the race, Johnson may yet have a shot at catching hold. 

U.S. Senate

Gavin Clarkson led off the senate speeches attired in his semi-cowboy motif and did his usual good job of expounding on conservative Republican themes. He appeared to connect with the audience, most of whom have undoubtedly seen him around the state, as this is the third office he has sought over just the past 21 months.

Elisa Martinez followed with a well-delivered speech, which connected with a built-in very receptive audience. As the former executive director of New Mexico Alliance for Life, she had an organizational advantage that allowed her to elect about a hundred members of that pro-life organization as delegates, leading to a real boost in enthusiasm for every part of her speech.

Martinez is Navajo, but emphasizes that she is also Hispanic, and she, much like Bedonie, made a very real identity-politics pitch. Again, this is a risky approach in a universe of voters who view identity politics with skepticism if not outright intellectual disdain.

Though to be fair, Martinez probably touched on more issues that resonate with conservative audiences than did Bedonie. Needless to say, she did well with the convention crowd.

Mick Rich, who is clearly one of the nicest people to ever run for office anywhere, simply did not come across as someone who had his full heart and soul in this race. He read most of his speech, which is almost inexplicable for someone who is running for the same office for three years. 

Mark Ronchetti came through with a burst of enthusiasm that seemed to hit home with at least a portion of the convention crowd. He seemed to elicit a more increasing welcoming and friendly response as his speech went on.

Ronchetti has been the principal, if not the only target of the relentlessly vicious attacks by the Elisa Martinez social media operation. So it was not a surprise that it appeared that a large segment of the attendees had come in with a skeptical, if not negative, appraisal of his candidacy.

However, Ronchetti's enthusiasm and well-delivered, well-crafted speech seemed to win over a significant portion of that skeptical element.

Louie Sanchez made a good speech, highlighting his entrepreneurial talents and business success. He found a receptive audience as it appeared he had a lot of committed delegates who were big fans, a phenomenon we had noticed in various locations around the state. This was impressive in that we had never heard of him till his announcement earlier this year. 

RESULT:  Martinez  241 (34.9%) Ronchetti 198 (28.7%) Sanchez 113 (16.4%) Rich 72 (10.4%) Clarkson 66 (9.6%). Martinez's win was widely expected as she had a built-in base of about a hundred votes due to her very early start nearly six months ago and the hard work planning for the convention and rounding up the Alliance for Life members.

The surprise for almost everyone, including us, had to be Ronchetti. He had only recently entered the race and had done relatively little for this meeting, knowing that no matter what happened he had over 10,000 signatures and therefore did not have to worry about reaching the 20% threshold.

As a result he apparently spent nothing for the convention: no hospitality suite, no ads, no visible effort at all. Yet he surged very strongly, probably based on how he came across. It can even be argued that if only the persuadable delegates are considered, Ronchetti actually beat Martinez something like 190 to 140, pretty impressive.

Rich seemed somewhat despondent at the surprising result, and dropped out of the race. Clarkson's showing has to be considered unimpressive given his continuous campaign for three offices that has now lasted some 2½ years. However, he vowed to soldier on.

Another real surprise was Sanchez's inability to reach the 20% threshold, considering his extremely loyal base of support that had quickly emerged and his clear standing and reputation in the business community. Surprisingly, he dropped out as well. We are told that his lucrative business interests are more or less a "hands-on" requirement for him and that he concluded that he cannot really conduct the kind of campaign he needs to do while simultaneously giving the personal attention his enterprises require.


* The organization does, however, face serious questions involving its role in advocating the election of selected candidates, and whether or not it is filing proper campaign finance reports.)


Email us (at nmpj@dfn.com) with your feedback, comments, questions, and ideas.


Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican

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National Issues

National Issues

Democrats

2016 Presidential Campaign - Democrats

Republicans

2016 Presidential Campaign - Republicans

Jeb Bush gets religion.

"They said he got religion at the end, and I'm glad that he did."  — Tom T. Hall. The Year Clayton Delaney died.

Well, it's official.  Jeb Bush has changed quite of few of his positions on illegal immigration.  The single most significant is that he no longer endorses the "path to citizenship" for those who came here illegally. 

This is, after all, the key portion of any proposal aimed at "reforming" our existing illegal immigration situation.

No sensible citizen can see any point in trying to deport between 12 and 16 million people currently living in America illegally.  And no candidate for any office that we know of supports that.  What the average American wants is for the country to "get a handle on it."  They want it stopped, our borders secured and future illegal immigration prevented.  It is a national security issue.

The Path to Legal Status

The only way to accomplish the above goals, is to identify current illegal immigrants, get them accounted for, have them documented, and placed on a path to legal status.  Neither they nor their children or spouses should live in a state of fear or anxiety.

But a path to "citizenship" is not the right course.  It is not morally or legally correct.  A merciful and compassionate nation can provide the safeguards of legal status without sending the message to the rest of the world that all you have to do is cross our border and you will eventually get to become a citizen, thus circumventing the legal framework scores of millions of Americans have followed, honored and respected.

If someone who is granted legal status eventually wants to become a citizen, that person should have to return to his or her country of origin and wait in line like 20 million people around the world are doing at any given time.  Failing that, America will forever send the signal that anyone in the world can "jump the line," and that there is no reason at all to obey our immigration and naturalization laws.

We Like Jeb Bush

We are glad Jeb Bush has learned this lesson.  He is a fine speaker, and can eloquently explain his positions on complex issue.  If he were not named "Bush" he would be an actual top tier candidate—in all that that title would entail, including likelihood of acceptance and support of and from the American people in the primaries, and in any theoretical general election.  

We also recognize that he already is a de facto top-tier candidate because of his fame and his fundraising.

If he were to be the nominee of the Republican Party we would heartily support him and endorse him.  We hope, however, that he is not, as he does not give the center-right coalition the best chance of winning.

Media Watch

Media Watch

County Government News

County Government News

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Cities, Towns and Villages

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Judicial Watch

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Movies, Television, Pop Culture

  • Movies, Television, Pop Culture
    Selma   ????? We have now seen the Oscar-nominated movie Selma.   Our earlier allusion to criticism that sounded as though it was in an Oliver Stone category for historical fabrication is some...

Sports

Sports

The Major League Baseball Playoffs are not realistic, and destroy the actual meaning of the sport. 

Major League Baseball is unique in this respect—its postseason is markedly different from the way the game is played normally.  No other major league sport suffers from this flaw.

Not that much is wrong with baseball. In some respects it's the most well thought-out sport there is.  The "perfect game" many aficionados say.

But the Major League Baseball postseason experience is unique in the world of professional sports, and not in a good way. 

In fact the playoffs are flawed in such a way as to detract from the sport itself and diminish the game and what it means to be the world champion of the sport. 

Among the Big Four team sports of North America: football, hockey, basketball and baseball—and all the 122 professional major league teams competing in the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB respectively—it is in baseball alone that the postseason turns the sport itself on its head and makes it reflect something that it is not.  This article will explain why that happens and why it is wrong-headed.

 

Background on the The Frequency of Play

The 30 teams in both the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association teams play a very similar schedule.  On average, each team has a day off between games, sometimes two days off.  Though there are back-to-back games, they are relatively infrequent.  NBA teams play between 14 and 22 back-to-back games a season, and for the NHL it usually ranges between 9 and 19. The NFL has a full week between games, the exception being the new Thursday games that each team plays once, leaving them only four days' rest once a year.

But baseball players play every single day.  Ten days straight, then a day off, then seven more games, then a day off, then ten more games.  Typically a baseball team plays 27 games every 30 days.  For the NHL and NBA it would be 14 per month, and for the NFL the number would be 4.

 

Getting to the Playoffs:  It's a grind

In all four sports, getting to the postseason requires a total team effort—in fact an all-out total organizational effort.  Teams must be deep, have bench strength and the capability of moving players in and out of the lineup, and on and off the roster, who can take the place of key players who go down for an injury, or who have to miss games for whatever reason.  While this is true of the other three major sports as well, it is most certainly even more of a concern for baseball teams because of the sheer volume of games in which a team must field a competitive lineup.

Each league's regular season* is a marathon, not a sprint.  NFL teams play for 17 weeks, 16 games.  The NHL has an 82-game season over six months, paralleled by an NBA season of 84 games over the same timeframe. Baseball is the biggest marathon of all—a true test of resilience and endurance—162 games usually starting around the beginning of April and finishing about the end of September.

NHL teams carry 23-man rosters, of which 20 can be active for any particular game.  The NBA is similar, with 15-man rosters of which 13 can be on the bench for a given game. In the NFL, the teams have 53 players on a roster, but only 46 can suit up on game day.  In Major League Baseball, teams have a 25-man active roster, and all 25 are at the park every day.

 

The Postseason Playoffs:  Sport by Sport

The National Football League:

Of the 32 teams, 12 qualify for the playoffs.  The playoffs are conducted in the exact same manner as the regular season.  Each team plays once a week, the exception being that the four top teams get the first week off.  For a typical qualifier to reach the Super Bowl, the team must play three consecutive weeks.  At that point both remaining teams have two weeks off before the Super Bowl.

In short, the playoffs, with a game each week, reflects the same means of advancement as is present in regular season grind.

The National Hockey League: 

16 of the 30 teams qualify for the postseason.  The playoffs are conducted in the exact same manner as the regular season: a game, a day off, a game, a day off, a game, a day off, and so on.  Just as in the regular season, there are occasionally two days off.  But the playoffs require the same stamina, the same approach as that required to make the playoffs.

 

The National Basketball Association

16 of the 30 teams qualify for the postseason.  The playoffs are conducted in the exact same manner as the regular season: a game, a day off, a game, a day off, a game, a day off, and so on.  Just as in the regular season, there are occasionally two days off.  But the playoffs require the same stamina, the same approach as that required to make the playoffs.

Major League Baseball

10 of the 30 teams qualify for the postseason.  (Although four of those teams qualify only for a one-game do-or-die play-in game.)

Here is where all similarity to baseball ends. 

Unlike the other three sports whose playoffs mirror the test of the regular season, and whose conditions are the same as the regular season, Major League Baseball playoffs in no way resemble the sport itself.  In hockey, basketball and football, the teams win playoff games and reach the pinacle of the sport in exactly the same way that they qualify to try to do so. 

Not so in baseball.  They are two entirely different concepts.  Teams make the playoffs only because they have depth, five-man pitching rotations and can play day-in and day-out at a high level.  But the baseball playoffs suddenly become a kind of "all-star" game within each team's roster.  MLB playoffs are conducted in a way that more closely follows the NBA and the NHL.  Teams have enormous numbers of days off. 

Here's the key point:  No Major League Baseball team could even qualify for the postseason if they played the same way during the regular season that they do in the playoffs.  None.

In the regular season Major League Baseball teams have to use a 5-man starting rotation, with pitchers pitching every 5th day.  There are not enough days off to have even a four-man rotation, let alone a team with three pitchers.  Even the best team in baseball using only a 4-man rotation, would wear them out, and most likely end up with a record of something like 66-96, or 70-92—and that would be if they were otherwise teh best team in the sport.

 

The 2014 Baseball Postseason is Typical

As examples, last year's World Series teams the Kansas City Royals played only 15 games in 30 days, and the San Francisco Giants played only 17 games in 30 days.  The 12 to 15 days off in the non-baseball fantasy world of the MLB postseason, means that teams can turn to three pitchers and give all of them plenty of rest.  But it isn't the way baseball really works.

At one point, the Royals had 5 consecutive days off, and the Giants had 4.  This never happens in the regular season.  Even the All-Star break is only three days.  Very rarely is there anything beyond a one-day break, and even that happens only a couple of times a month. 

What this means is that neither team used the team that got them to the playoffs.  (The NFL, NBA and NHL teams ALL used the very same teams that got them to the playoffs.) 

Baseball teams use a three-man pitching rotation in the playoffs.  Sometimes, they essentially opt for two pitchers only—conceding the likelihood that some of their games are going to be lost—when their third-, or rarely fourth-best pitcher has to face one of their opponents' two-man or three-man rotation members. 

Imagine an NFL team using only one running back and three wide receivers, instead of rotating through their roster in the course of a playoff game—or using only 4 defensive backs and 4 linebackers, instead of rotating 8 or 9 DBs and 6 or 7 linebackers?  In hockey, would a team use only two or three of their forward lines?  Would an NBA team use only the starting five?  They would never make the post season if they tried to present that product to their fans during the regular season.

Those are the equivalents of what Major League Baseball sets up every fall.  No other sport drags its playoffs out in such a way as to completely change the playing field—completely change the dynamics of its game.

Why Does Baseball Do This?

MLB does this because the TV networks want to drag out the games so that they can try to have one game each day  This requires an unnecessary staggering of games, and creates the phenomenon of 15 off-days in a month.

What about travel days?

What about them?  Baseball has travel days constantly.  A team may play in Chicago one day and in Miami the next, or in New York one day and Phoenix the very next day.  Travel days as a routine part of the game are again, a phenomenon of television, and stretching out the playoffs.

In years past, travel days were employed only when necessary. The famous "subway series" games were played on seven consecutive days.  Why?  Because there was no "travel day" required to go from Brooklyn to the Bronx.  Today, they would put in artificial travel days.

Even fairly long train trips didn't necessarily matter.  The 1948 World Series between the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Braves was played in six consecutive days, October 6 & 7 in Boston, October 8, 9 & 10 in Cleveland, and October 11 back in Boston.

This reflects actual baseball, the way the teams play day-in and day-out, and the kind of unique test that baseball presents to its athletes, its managers and management, and to its fans.

In the modern world of charter planes, teams fly from coast to coast to play games on consecutive days.  The artificial "travel day" should be eliminated so that teams can play in the playoffs in the same way that got them there in the first place.


*All these leagues also have pre-seasons and training camps, which add an additional 6-8 weeks to each player's year.


Email us with your feedback, comments, questions and ideas. 

Religious Issues

Religious Issues

  • Religious Issues
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