Imperial

It really is important to go vote here and get New Mexico polled. PPP has been doing their polls in an interesting manner lately.

Remember all of the buzz about Ron Paul running for Senate? While it appears that he will end up not pulling the trigger on that run, it did force the pundits to do something interesting: Dr. Paul was in the news. The blogosphere lit up with mentions of the good doctor possibly running for Senate and being a frontrunner. A strong performance like this, against some of the biggest politicos in Texas today, gave him something that is sadly and wrongly lacking sometimes for our movement: legitimacy.

With legitimacy, we gain the attention of the media and the movers in politics. It is this perception that, yes, small-l libertarians are electable and are a force to be reckoned with.

The other beneficial aspect to this: it sent a message to Dr. Paul as well. He seriously considered a run when he was surprised by such a strong showing. Although he will likely not elect to run in that race, it also sends our candidate a message: if you work hard and make a name, you can become a player. This cannot hurt our chances for Dr. Paul getting a promotion!

So why bother to go vote for New Mexico to get polled? For primaries, PPP has been doing the 'jungle primary' - take all of the big names in a given state in a given party, and see how they do against each other. I don't see how Gary Johnson is NOT included in this, being the last GOP Governor before Susana Martinez. But there is basically nobody I see dominating the primary. From one of my comments at SSP:

We already saw Steve Pearce run in two statewide bids before, once losing in the primary and once getting smashed by Udall.
Domenici Jr. showed he faltered pretty badly in the Republican primary this year for Governor, which was his to lose. Allen Weh might be able to make a bid, but he lacks huge name recognition and has some bad dirt from the one attorney that was fired after a conversation with a White House aide.

True, I see Pearce and ex-Rep. Heather Wilson (who left office in 2008) as having a bit of lingering name recognition, but Gary Johnson would be performing extremely well anyway for representing the entire state for 8 years not so long ago.

So if we get PPP to poll New Mexico and show Gary Johnson polling strongly in the primary and quite possibly the general, we generate a bit of buzz and get some respect for Gary Johnson. This cannot be a bad thing for us- we need somebody other than just Ron and Rand who, as an experienced office-holder, can give us a bully pulpit on the national stage. Johnson fills a niche Rand cannot, since Rand frames his comments to conservatives and Johnson frames his to moderates.

However, there is another benefit- to show Gary that he can win. He knows the last polls showed him weak in the primary thus far for President. However, if he has a Senate seat waiting for his coronation- that is another thing entirely than taking a gamble. If we want to augment Gary's profile while clearing the field for Dr. Paul, we HAVE to get New Mexico polled.

Go vote!

PS: Incumbent Jeff Bingaman ended the financial quarter with only $500k in the bank- anemic for an incumbent Senator. A comparable example would be Jim Bunning before he withdrew from his re-election bid. Thus, it looks like we may be dealing with an open seat!

PS2: Here is a list of reasons I wrote up a year ago as to why a Gary Johnson senatorial bid would be so effective.

1) He is their former two-term governor. Name recognition will be ZERO problem in New Mexico (something Johnson has struggled with nationwide).

2) A statewide election is much cheaper than the presidential election. We can help fund it and Johnson can actually make a difference with his own coffers too.

3) The incumbent, Jeff Bingaman, is rumored to be retiring in 2012. Johnson entering the race would likely seal the deal on his retirement, creating an open seat. (Open seats are MUCH easier to win than stealing it from an incumbent).

4) Coattails. If Johnson runs, he can endorse Adam Kokesh in NM-03 if Adam runs again and help a liberty candidate rally the votes.

5) People will notice Johnson running for Senate in New Mexico. He could endorse Ron Paul for president and help get our guy some press.

6) Another Senator would help Rand Paul in the Senate and give our movement another high-profile victory.

Finally 7) A term in the Senate could help set Johnson up for a future run for President if he wanted it, once he was back in the political limelight.