Political Dominoes Continue to Fall

The chain reaction started by the retirement of New Mexico's senior Senator Pete Domenici continues as the political dominoes fall. Our Eyes have been telling us for some time that County Commissioner Michael Brasher had been looking into running for the Public Regulatory Commission against current commissioner Jason Marks.

The left leaning Marks has been seen as vulnerable due to the more conservative make-up of the district he represents. Now the Eyes have it that Commissioner Brasher is almost 90% sure not to run for the seat. The move clears the field for another Republican, UNM Professor Alan Reed. Dr. Reed has been looking into a run for a few months and now seems to be the only Republican interested in taking on the incumbent Marks.

You're probably wondering exactly what this has to do with Senator Domenici... Nothing at first glance, however Marty's jump at the Senate seat has created a number of interesting possibilities for someone whose whole political career has been spent in Albuquerque politics either as a city councilor or as a county commissioner. Albuquerque's Mighty Mayor, should he gain the U.S. Senate would leave Albuquerque without a mayor. Should he fail in his Senate bid, Marty would undoubtedly be damaged politically by a campaign that is sure to be brutal (and we wouldn't have it any other way).

In either case, it's likely that the mayor's race in Albuquerque will be for an open seat as Marty would first have to fight a legal battle to overturn the city charter's term limits and then begin his campaign (which would probably end up being on our dime thanks to the Albuquerque Open and Un-Ethical Elections Law because he'll almost surely have tapped everyone of his supporters for every spare dime). Needless to say his honor would face more than one challenge should his senate bid fail.

Speaking of Marty's Senate bid... our Eyes tell us that Democrats have been furiously looking for someone to run against Albuquerque's Martycrat mayor. While we believe that most of the pressure is being exerted on His Largeness in Santa Fe (or at least that's where his governor's office is), we're not sure that Bill would like to end up in the relative obscurity of the U.S. Senate. After all, there are 100 Senators and only 50 Governors.

One of the names that has been floated as a possible primary opponent for the Almighty Mayor (besides the previously announced Don Wiviott) has a familiar sound to it - Brasher. No, not the afore mentioned county commissioner, his brother Lance Brasher. While they share a last name, they don't share a political party. You see Lance Brasher is an international attorney and a Democrat; who received an appointment to the Naval Academy from none other than Pete Domenici. Lance also shares his family's deep roots; a family that arrived some three and a half minutes after Albuquerque was settled (or so we're told anyway).

No matter how you slice it, it's clear the Democrats don't like the idea of the chief Martycrat being the only top tier candidate in their primary. We'll be looking for more names to surface until the Guv returns from his presidential foray in February either with a cabinet position, a senate announcement, or a decision to remain New Mexico's Governor.

-----Correction-----
We were rightly chastised for mis-spelling Public Regulatory Commissioner Jason Marks last name. We originally spelled his last name Marx... Perhaps a Freudian slip but (at least in this case) it was unintentional. We have corrected the mistake above. We'll let our readers decide which spelling is more accurate.