Love-In at the Hilton

BOISE, IDAHO--Downloading the pictures from my little Nikon, I ran across these snapshots taken at Tuesday's election night party at the Hilton in ABQ. These parties are always called "victory parties" no matter the outcome. The word IRONY pops into my head whenever I see the mortal enemies of an election hug each other during or right after the vote count. Such was the case last Tuesday.

In the biggest throw-down, Messrs. King, Martinez, and Zamora called each other's sanity into question amid accusations of being soft on child abusers, DWI, and rapists. On Tuesday night we find them ready to make nice even before all the votes were counted. Enough had been counted, however, that they were all aware that Gary King (on the left) was the winner.

Ray Powell and Jim Baca smiled at each other...but I can't recall an actual embrace. Maybe it was because the race was so close that nobody knew until the next day who the real winner was. I think that these two races, AG and Land Commissioner, point out how rich in candidates the Dems are in New Mexico. The Republicans, on the other hand, are having a hard time even getting people to run for the state races.

There is one exception: the House district for ABQ and central New Mexico has a Republican encumbent, Heather Wilson. Her challenger will be Patricia Madrid, who had no opposition in Tuesday's primary. Democratic party leaders say she has the best chance of beating Wilson of anybody they have ever run. Well...maybe.

Meanwhile, Governor Bill Richardson hung around the Hilton long enough after his speech to have his picture taken with my gf, the Beautiful MaryAnn. I'm sorry the picture isn't too good...I was feeling some time pressure. At any rate, the Gov was in Las Vegas this weekend addressing political bloggers at their convention.

I am not at the convention. MaryAnn and I are on vacation. We are driving up to Washington and British Columbia. So far we have made it to Boise. More later.