Hector Balderas - The Good Candidate

Why MeanMesa Voted for Martin Heinrich in the Primary

Heinrich and Balderas were both vying for for the New Mexico Democratic nomination to run for US Senator in the 2012 election.  Both are outstanding Democrats, generally progressive and very popular in the state.

Balderas assembled his credentials as New Mexico State Auditor -- more about that later in this post. 

Rep. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) (image source)

Heinrich moved -- not so gradually -- from being a City Council President in Albuquerque, through an appointment by the Richardson administration to serve as Natural Resources Trustee to an election to the US House of Representatives in 2008.

Although perhaps disconcertingly meek for MeanMesa's profile of a progressive Representative, Heinrich has consistently voted well.  This blog rests now with a comforting suspicion that Martin Heinrich might have both more rarefied progressive blood and more fight in him than we've seen so far.

Heinrich got our vote for most of the reasons one would expect.  First and foremost, if he can find the "bones' to be just a little more aggressive, he can defeat the huge, flatulent, Citizens United cash bubble which will inevitably accompany his Republican opponent, Heather Wilson.  Next, with a little more determination, Heinrich can master the persuasive image of collegiate pensiveness New Mexicans associate with a successful Senator.

New Mexico doesn't need a Republican Senator, and this is exponentially more true if that Republican Senator turns out to be Heather Wilson, a heavily soiled, slight of hand harlot left over from the George W. Bush autocracy.  [This may sound harsh, but it is actually MeanMesa comporting itself with its most carefully measured words in the most personable terms possible.]  A Wilson Senate term would amount to a nightmarish, grotesquely purified, regression back to a retired military version of the "patrona dynasty" of Heather's old school mentor, the now retired Senator Dominici (R-NM).

New Mexico Democrats' Circular Firing Squad

With Heinrich's decision to campaign for US Senator, his old post of US Representative became open.  Had he run for another House term, the odds were very good that he could have won, but the retirement of the state's past Senator, Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), left -- again, due largely to the ugly potential of vast Citizens United money -- both an unacceptable vulnerability to the Senate Democratic majority and an irresistible opportunity for Heinrich.

MeanMesa has no "bone to pick" with the three Democrats who cast their names on the primary ballot to replace Heinrich.  However, MeanMesa DOES have a "bone to pick" with the state's Democratic leadership which failed to convince Balderas to target the House seat instead of the Senate seat.

With just the tiniest bit of inspired primary campaigning, Hector Balderas could have handily won the nomination to replace Heinrich in the House.  That primary victory would have positioned a highly electable "battleship" in the Democratic line-up on the November ballot.

Why Balderas Would Have Been So Electable

MeanMesa canvassed during both the 2008 and 2010 elections.  This was a great chance to "talk to the neighbors" about the candidates.  The point here is that, even among these admittedly "low information," lower middle class voters, the common theme of these canvassing conversations centered on the corruption of the Richardson (Bill Richardson, Democratic Governor of New Mexico prior to the election of the current Governor, Susana Martinez, Republican) Administration.

The ineptitude and corruption of the Richardson government has been very energetically publicized by in-state reactionary media -- in many cases, quite deservedly, even if not particularly objectively.  Given the gravely uncertain times these neighbors have experienced in the throes of the Great Republican Recession of 2008, this waste and misdirection became a very material issue politically.  

MeanMesa suspects, given the disastrous results of the 2010 tea bag ascendancy, that a similar back lash occurred in many other places as well.

Now, in the aftermath of 2010, MeanMesa is talking to the neighbors once again in preparation for the 2012 campaign.  The notable "bright spot" encountered repeatedly is the widely held, positive opinion of Hector Balderas' performance as New Mexico State Auditor and his good work in straightening out these often rather egregious, financial gaffes and suspicious peccadilloes.

Hector Balderas - New Mexico State Auditor & Senate Primary Candidate (WIKI)

From the viewpoint of a lower middle class voter in Albuquerque's Northeast Heights, Balderas has the well deserved image of a "White Knight," fighting for state legislative financial discipline and honesty.  Further, these voters know that the role of the US House of Representatives is to hold and execute the nation's "purse strings," that is, the same task on a national level.

The combination of Balderas' record and his House candidacy would have been a "marriage made in heaven."  His record in New Mexico would have fit perfectly with exactly what most voters want most in the next House of Representatives team.

MeanMesa looks forward to campaigning for Hector Balderas just as soon as the state Democratic leadership pulls their heads out of their a**sses and places him as candidate for the right Congressional job in the future.