From the Associated Press:
U.S. Rep. Tom Udall has decided to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Pete Domenici, according to an aide.“He’s definitely running,” Tom Nagle, Udall’s chief of staff told The Associated Press. […]
Udall initially had said he would stay in the House, where he is a member of the Appropriations Committee.
But he reconsidered after a “groundswell” of encouragement from New Mexicans, Nagle said.
“He thinks it’s too important not to run for the Senate,” Nagle said. “A lot of the good things we’ve been able to do (in the House) don’t go anywhere in the Senate.”
Nagle said there has been criticism that Udall is “too liberal” for the seat but he disputed that, saying “the rhetoric doesn’t match the reality of what the data show.”
He said internal campaign polling of likely voters conducted for Udall at the end of October showed the congressman with a considerable lead over either Wilson or Pearce, including among self-described moderates.
Sweet!
Update: Check out the details of an internal poll conducted for Udall by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates (10/23-10/27, likely voters):
Tom Udall (D): 52%
Heather Wilson (R): 36%
Undecided: 12%Tom Udall (D): 50%
Steve Pearce (R): 33%
Undecided: 17%Martin Chávez (D): 47%
Heather Wilson (R): 43%
Undecided: 10%Martin Chávez (D): 40%
Steve Pearce (R): 44%
Undecided: 16%
MoE: ±4.3%
The Chávez numbers seem to jive with the most recent polling from SUSA, and the 17 and 18 point leads that Udall enjoys over Pearce and Wilson match up well with the R2K polling for DailyKos. In short: the poll is good.
Udall starts off in a position of strength in the primary, capturing a solid 50% of Democratic primary voters:
Tom Udall: 50%
Martin Chávez: 30%
Don Wiviott: 2%
Undecided: 17%
MoE: +/-4.6%
Mayor Marty’s ego is clearly stung, hence his unwarranted attacks on Udall’s voting record (the very same voting record that Chávez said he would emulate in a chat with local progressive bloggers). This primary will be as ugly as he wants it to be, but his extremely high negatives — confirmed by both Udall’s and SUSA’s polling — indicate that this will be a likely loss for the Mayor. A nickel’s worth of free advice to Martin: bow out gracefully.
Go and show your thanks to DraftUdall.com for their work in getting Udall back in the race.
When everyone said it was over, Alex Flores didn’t give up. I remember one comment which said, after Udall initially turned down the chance to run for Senate, it was the “shortest draft effort ever.”
Turns out not so true. Good job!
Now go give a few bucks so we can have two Udalls in the Senate after the next elections.
Interesting that they didn’t release the questions asked on the polling? I am always very weary of Internal Polls. There are a lot of polls floating around there, those same polls that showed Madrid winning in 06. That’s why they campaign. Too early to have a clear winner in this race. Udall should worry about Chavez getting the hispanic vote.