New Mexico politicians spend holiday on the campaign trail
Posted at: 09/03/2012 5:38 PM
By: Stuart Dyson, Eyewitness News 4
Labor Day is a day to relax for most Americans, but for New Mexico politicians on the ballot in this election year, it was a day of vital work - meeting the voters.
Back in the good old days, Labor Day was the start of the real campaign season. Nowadays the TV ads start much earlier, but Labor Day is still the start of an important phase of the campaign - the ground game.
Republican Heather Wilson took her race for the U.S. Senate to the Bernalillo Wine Festival for some person-to-person campaigning; an approach that has worked since the dawn of the republic.
"We have had great grassroots-driven campaigns every single time I've won," Wilson said. "It's been people power that really wins elections. it's person to person."
At last, something she and Democratic rival Martin Heinrich can agree on - without the old-fashioned stuff you can't win. Heinrich was meeting and greeting voters at a Labor Day union picnic in Santa Fe.
"We're really investing a lot of our efforts in the field and door to door and phone calls," Heinrich said. "The Democratic Party has always been good at the grass roots side of things."
From now till Election day, these Senate candidates will be all over New Mexico, going wherever people go.
"I've been in Hatch at the Chile Fiesta," Wilson said. "I was in Socorro for the county fair, up to Angel Fire yesterday, over at Wagon Mound for Bean Day and back down in Bernalillo and back in Albuquerque...so we have been all over the state."
"This morning we were up in Wagon Mound," said Heinrich. " A couple days ago we were in Raton and Clayton and Santa Rosa and Tucumcari, getting around the state, trying to meet people one on one."
Believe it or not, the election is almost here - early voting starts in about a month.
 |
Tweet |
|
