Udall In!

The national party leaned on Tom Udall to go after the Senate job opened up by Pete Domenici's announcement that he will retire, and now Tom is announcing that he will go for it.

Up until now, we stayed with our position, announced even before Domenici's admission of his illness and intention to retire (see our previous endorsement, made in June!) that the best person to run for the seat is Bill Richardson, who would have a brief window to change course, plow his remaining funds over, and announce before the deadline and after February 5 (I feel that he will be able to keep his candidacy viable until then).

That Udall's even considering running seems to indicate that Bill is unlikely to waver from his Executive Branch-headed course (for example, he would certainly be on Hillary's short list for V.P. , or some other senior Cabinet position, if it goes her way). His decision only came after consultation with Richardson, whom Udall boldly endorsed. No, seriously: it was bold, though perhaps also easy.

Udall's going in to the race changes things--we would shift from our endorsement of Richardson and our contingent endorsement of Martin Chavez. Udall's about as good a candidate as one could find, from a policy point of view, and would be nearly as strong as Bill Richardson. He should be able to defeat either Wilson or Pearce handily.

The Senate seat will be the headliner, but the real news will come in the scramble for all three of the state's House seats. All will be opened up if Udall, Wilson, and Pearce run--and the best thing is that, at most, one of the Republicans will still have a Congressional job!

Right now, we have two good-to-great Congressional reps (Udall and Sen. Bingaman) and three not-so-good-to-awful ones (Wilson, Pearce, and Domenici). What we want from the 2009 Congressional delegation is four of the former category, conceding the Republicans the House member from the southern part of the state. We need Udall to win, along with a decent (moderate Democratic) House representative from the middle, Albuquerque-centered district Heather Wilson now represents, and, perhaps the longest shot, we would need one of the better choices among the many Democratic hopefuls in the north-central district Udall now has.

We won't get a House member as good as Tom, but we will strive to identify someone honest and progressive and get behind such a Democrat. This race may require more direct involvement than I am generally willing to give, and on a personal basis may pre-empt general contributions to the DCCC. Similarly, while I always gave when Udall asked (and he usually only asked once per campaign), the financial needs for the Senate race for Udall will doubtlessly feel more immediate (and will soak up funds for DSCC).

The candidates are rapidly lining up. 2008 looks like a watershed year for the state, with most everyone running for something (for what Richardson will end up running, I'm not sure). Diane Denish is the one exception, as she has the inside track for the governor's job when Richardson's turn would naturally end, in 2010, or sooner if he gets a new job.