CNN Stats

CNN reported tonight that the Congressional candidates in the country spent $160 million on negative ads and $17 million on positive ads. Now wonder my friend Lee Otteni from Farmington said the people up in San Juan County are turning off their TVs. They have been subjected to negative ads from Albuquerque TV in the Congressional race since Heather Wilson started them last July. They cant even vote in the race. The LA times says $11 million has been spent in this congressional race by the candidates and independant campaigns on 11,500 TV commercials. That is a lot of negative vibes going through the ether!

My opponent has really helped in that too. He is at it again saying the I caused the Land Office to lose a hundred million dollars when I was Commissioner. Of course he fails to mention that 98% of all revenues are brought in by oil and gas and that plummeting oil prices in the 80's and 90's caused that. If he wants to blame me for that then you should blame him for $3 dollar a gallon gasoline for most of the year. Oh, thats right, it dropped to $2 a gallon for a few weeks until the election is past.

Must Buy More Candy

I must remember to find time to buy more candy. Bobbi and Noelle bought some but I know it wont be enough after experiencing the last two years. When I wake up I hope I remember. I would give the kids a bumper sticker, but the tricksters would burn the house. Cant blame them. The above pumpkins were carved by my son Justin and his girl Karly in Syracuse.

Life Outside

I know there is a life outside the current political campaigns. All of the candidates know that and frankly, they are looking forward to the year long gauntlet to end. I see young guys like Democratic State Auditor Candidate Hector Balderas of Wagon Mound yearning to be with his young family. He had been on the road for us with days and got to see his wife and kids in Las Vegas this weekend. He visibly brightened with them there at his side.

These campaigns in New Mexico take a whole year to conduct and are akin to 'running the guantlet'. You must start collecting signature petitions in October of the year before the general election. Those are filed in Marchof the next year. Then you have to endure the questionable effectiveness of the Pre Primary Nominating Convention which has a mediocre record of picking the eventual Primary winner. Then the Primary campaign starts. That is the most lonely part of the whole campaign because your party members are automatically split and many are unwilling to commit for fear of losing friends. Then the Primary in June and it starts all over for the General Election. The General Election is more fun because then you run as a team and the candidates attempt to help each other out. Even so, you can see the strain in the last three weeks on every ones faces. Everyone is sort of at the point of saying, "Be over."

Well, we are one week away of this being over and then we an our families can get back to our lives outside the modern day equivalent of 'running the gauntlet.'

Win or lose next week Bobbi and I will travel for a week to Puerto Vallarte for a rest.

It Starts-The Swift Boating

Pat Lyons has just started his negative TV Commercials against me. Everyone says they are truly awful. I haven't seen them since I have been campaigning in the north with all the candidates. Bad pictures of me, lies about me, and generally offensive TV. So, what do I do? Sink to his level? Send a comment and advice.

In the meantime we had two strong editorial endorsements today. One in a column by V.B. Price in the Albuquerque Tribune and a very good endorsement in the Santa Fe New Mexican.

These articles paint a much different picture than Pat Lyons lies do.

We did our tour of the north today with the start in the Plaza in Las Vegas.

Our next stop was Mora and the VFW Post.

Then it was on to Taos.

Then we stopped in Espanola where I mugged with Governor Benavidez of Santa Clara Pueblo.

And finished in Santa Fe with an introduction by Mayor Coss.

Friday Late-Then the Bus

We went to all those places I described in the last post. This beautiful autumn picture was taken between Zuni Pueblo and El Morro on the way back from a long day of campaigning. Scenes like this one make it all worth it.

We all made this tour including the big guy, (now getting slimmer) and Senator Bingaman.

Here is my faithful chase car driver and campaign Treasurer Rodger Beimer listening to our speeches for the third time in three hours.

Tomorrow we take the bus to Las Vegas, Mora, Taos, Espanola and Santa Fe.

Thursday Late-Then the Bus

Two breakfast meetings with two speeches. Home to check on Bobbi. Drove to Las Vegas for a two hour debate with my opponent. Drove to Santa Fe to meet some donors. Drove to Cerrillos to attend a fundraiser. Drove home the back way to Albuquerque. 13.5 hours and home to some yummy potato soup made by Noelle. She came home to care for Bobbi while I am on the road.


Tomorrow we do Rio Rancho, Laguna Acoma Pueblos, Gallup and Zuni on a bus tour with the Governor. Saturday we do the bus tour to Las Vegas, Mora, Taos, Espanola, and Santa Fe.

While I was on the road today this story appeared in the Tribune. I find it strange that a land office employee is answering campaign related questions. She also set up the bogus TV commercial with the public school in question, while an employee of the land office I assume. Other candidates have been lynched by the media for this so I think this story may be around for a while.

Home

I brought Bobbi home this morning. She is moving slow but feels good. She will be convalescing for a couple of weeks. She will really miss being out on the campaign trail. I will be staying with her most of today and working the campaign from home.

I was really happy to see the Albuquerque Journal story on my opponents scandalous mailing accusing me of getting ready to ban hunting from state lands. It is a lie and the story pretty much lays out the issue. Here is my original news release from last June on my hunting access policy.

Now, I am off to fill prescriptions at Walgreen's for Bobbi.

Our Taxes

If you didn't see it please read this from the New York Time's Nicolas Kristoff. It might send you into orbit, like it did to me this morning while sitting by Bobbi's bed at the Womens Hospital. $6300 a second is a lot of money to be cramming into Iraq. bush and rumsfeld's war was supposed to cost $50 billion, but now it looks like $2 trillion. Get your head around that number!

As Kristoff said, "Just to put that $2 trillion in perspective, it is four times the additional cost needed to provide health insurance for all uninsured Americans for the next decade. It is 1,600 times Mr. Bush’s financing for his vaunted hydrogen energy project."

Bobbi is still doing well at the hospital.

Bobbi is Fine

My lovely wife Bobbi is out of surgery and doing fine. The first thing she asked about this morning after waking up, somewhat drugged, was how the Journal story on the poll was. She really did. I thought it was good, but you know yesterday the head line was, "Madrid Gains, Wilson Slips" as they were separated by 3%. In my case it says "Baca-Lyons Locked in Dead Heat" while we are separated by 2%. It all depends on the headline writer on duty I guess.

I am pretty happy with these results. It may turn out that Lyon's incredibly negative campaign ads are not catching voters for him. He has spent a lot of money in the last two weeks and has seen little change. Now, back to the hospital room with Bobbi.

Home Again

Yesterday was fun and tiring. We started at 7am in Ruidoso and went to Alamogordo for a really great rally. Then on to Las Cruces for the Aggie Homecoming Parade. Then on to Deming for a really nice downtown rally. Then on to Silver City for another nicely attended downtown rally. And finally, to Socorro for another rally at 9pm. We got home about 10:30.....

This is the gang that went on the bus tour with some of the local candidates in Hobbs on Friday morning.

This is State Auditor candidate Hector Balderas catching some sleep on the bus.

This is Jean Ossorio with Rodger Beimer and I in Las Cruces. Jean is very active in my campaign down there along with her husband Peter. They work very hard on wolf recovery programs.

I will be out of pocket tomorrow as my lovely wife Bobbi will be undergoing major surgery at the Women's Hospital. You all pray for her.

Long Day

6:15 am to Double Eagle Airport for flight to Hobbs
6:45 am I discover I am at the wrong airport
7:00 am The planes flies from the ABQ Airport and picks me up
8:15 am We arrive at Hobbs for a rally
9:15 am We board a bus for Carlsbad
10:15 am We have a rally
11:30 am We board the bus to Roswell
12:45 pm We have a rally
2:45 pm We board the bus for Ruidoso
4:15 pm We arrive Ruidoso

Two more rallies in Ruidoso tonight.

TV

Here is our first TV Commercial which started airing yesterday.

Please send money here to help keep it on the air.

At last check today the oil and gas industry has put into my opponents T.V. account three times what we have for T.V.

The ugly October surpises are upon us. This comes on the heels of highly negative attacks against several of us Democrats in recent weeks. These negative attacks work despite what everyone says about hating them.

This kind of campaigning didn't exist the last time I ran for office. It really has been honed into an art by the republicans who will stop at nothing to control the country. I don't know what the negative mail campaign that is being waged against us will ultimately do to our races, but I don't think they are helping.

Oil and Gas

This link will show you what the bush administration has planned for American Western Public Lands during its last two years in office. While I have always said oil and gas development is appropriate on most public land, I also feel it is inappropriate on some lands and that is where I get in trouble with the oil and gas guys. They just want it all and that is why they are supporting my opponent.

I had a friend call me and enlighten me about my opponents campaign. His websites and literature fail to mention he is a Republican. Anywhere! I am sure I have put out some pieces that might not identify me as a Democrat, but I am certainly proud to be one and not afraid to let folks know. My opponent knows he can't win without Democratic votes so he feels it necessary to do this.

Be sure and look at the video in the last post. It is still very telling and funny.

Video of Lyons on Environment

Here is a video that shows my opponents true colors on taking care of the land. This is part of a televised debate in Roswell that we participated in last week. It was taped and replayed several times and originated from the First Baptist Church in Roswell.

And Then

And after reading the nice endorsement in the Tribune I switch over to the New York Times and see that 10 American kids and dozens of Iraqis died today in Iraq. 69 U.S. soldiers have died this month so far.

I am enveloped in the campaign and pay some attention to others, but sometimes I don't think hard enough about the things that are really important to this nation. Those 69 lives and the innocents who have died should be our main concerns. We simply must change the Congress this year if we don't do anything else.

An Endorsement

We got a very nice endorsement from the Albuquerque Tribune today. Click here to see it along with some of their other picks.

Land Commissioner

Jim Baca, Democrat

The land commissioner's race this year is really a contest about who can look out better for the long-term best interests of New Mexicans and the state's public-trust lands, whose revenues go to schools across New Mexico. Both candidates can lay claim to good backgrounds for the office. But Baca has the foresight and inventiveness to serve New Mexico the longest and the best.

Though Baca is the challenger this time around, he has considerable relevant experience. He was New Mexico's land commissioner twice, from 1983-86 and 1991-93. From 1993-94, he headed the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. He was mayor of Albuquerque from 1997-2001 and a state Natural Resources Trustee from 2003-06.

Generally, he has proved to be an innovator. The Tribune is particularly impressed with his bold and surprisingly successful efforts to turn the Land Commissioner's Office from its traditional emphasis on exploiting trust lands to get revenues from oil, gas and other extractive industries and from grazing leases. Instead, Baca began attending more diligently to conserving and protecting trust lands for recreational uses.

It's not that Baca abandoned money-making ventures. On the contrary, he pressed oil and gas companies and ranchers for higher revenues and initiated planning for the development of Mesa del Sol in south Albuquerque. But he recognized that oil and gas supplies are running out in New Mexico, and the ranching business has been declining under various pressures. In the long run, recreational uses are taking more prominent revenue-producing roles, and Baca is about encouraging this. This time around, Baca is promoting an interesting new round of innovations.

The current land commissioner is making money from trust lands, but for how long? We think the future, in the long run, lies with Baca's approach.

Hate Mail Continues

Pat Lyons and the bush Republicans continue to send out hate mail paid for by the oil and gas industry. First it was a racial slur against Treasurer candidate James Lewis, then it was another one against Patsy Madrid. Now they actually have a large piece out that says I will ban firearms on state lands and put all lands off limits to sportsmen. In truth, I have been a sportsman and hunter all my life and have a large collection of hunting and sporting firearms. I recieved my first rifle, a .22 caliber single shot Marlin on Christmas morning in 1953. This hate mail is really incredible and scary because this kind of trash can affect a close election. Pat Lyons and the bush republicans are liars. In addition, all of the mail, which has Lyon's home address in Cuervo, NM on it, has no state required disclaimer on it. This mail is in violation of state election law and can not be legally mailed.

Don't believe the lies you see in bush republican hate mail. Remember the lies about "mission accomplished?" Please contact the Secretary of State's office to complain about this illegally mailed materiel.

My position on sportsmen access was made clear in this news release last June.

More Radio Debate

Tune in for a good radio one on one tonight between Pat Lyons and me. It will be at 6PM on KANW 89.1 FM. Listen for an evening of truth or dare.

Proof

The 300 millionth American was born today. That is a real milestone. I was born in 1945 and the country's population was 132 million. We have more than doubled. Will we double again in the next sixty years? Probably not, hopefully not.

I cant think of a better reason for protecting places like Valle Vidal and Otero Mesa than these statistics. We really must think sixty to one hundred years ahead on everything we do. The chances of protecting these places with New Mexico's population growth during that time get slimmer and slimmer. New Mexico will probably grow faster than much of the country due to in migration from other parts of America and South America.

Radio Showdown

My opponent and I will be on KKOB 770 on the Jim Villanucci show at 3pm today. It should be a fun couple of hours and it may surprise a few folks.

Endorsement Process

It came as no surprise to me that the Albuquerque Journal endorsed my opponent. Their endorsement board hasn't had a nice word for me since I objected to a road as Mayor through the Petroglyph National Monument. I held that road up for four years in a futile fight against the developers who are now heavily financing my opponent's race. It became apparent to me the Journal was protecting my opponent on the disastrous deal he made with convicted felons on the "Worlds Largest Solar" plant near Deming. Their stories on this fiasco used his name exactly once in three stories about the scam that would have put individual investors at risk by assuring them that the State Land Commissioner was a 'partner'. I do like the fact the endorsement made it clear that my opponent wants to drill for oil and gas on our last great western Chihuahuan grassland.

Having said that, I still think the reporters and working journalists at the Journal are fair and accurate when they turn in their stories. I have a lot of old friends there from years past.

The rest of the state's newspapers will start endorsing next weekend. The Weekly newspapers are getting more and more influential too and will probably endorse right before the election.

Lower

This ad by Demesia Padilla, Republican Treasurere Candidate, is a new low. I have watched Demesia and the rest of the Republican statewide candidates all slowly morph into John Dendahl. My opponent has done the same kind of stuff, but his campaign is being run by Dendahl on the side and Dendahl's wife works for the Land Office. I had always liked Demesia but this is horrible. What is happening here is a full frontal assault on the lower Democratic constitutional office candidates by Dendahl forces. The problem is, this kind of hateful stuff works quite often.

I remember in 1985 I lost a Mayor's race to Ken Shultz because his supporters spread rumors that my wife and kids hated hispanics and didn't have my last name. It wasn't true but it was enough to garner a couple of thousand votes. This thing has actually cropped up again in this race. A comment in the Santa Fe New Mexican comment section opened it up again. Never underestimate the lows some people can descend to in politics.

New Low

Today my son Justin recieved a piece of campaign mail from my opponent Pat Lyons. It was the most vile mail I have seen in a long time and full of factual errors and outright lies. Well, this is what we get in politics today. I considered showing this ad on the blog, but felt it would just cause it to get more exposure. I would never send an ad like that out and I certainly would not send it to Pat Lyon's house for his children to see. Justin is in Ithaca, New York working on an MBA degree at Cornell University. I will send it to him via a scan and email. He wont be happy. He got this because he signed up for an absentee ballot.

I can't really believe the stuff in this ad is something that Pat Lyons himself would agree to sending out. I always felt he was a pretty decent guy.

Working

Yesterday we left Roswell at 7 AM and travelled to Ruidoso where we stopped at the Ruidoso news and saw these great letters to the editor in their paper. We then went to Alamogordo to meet with some Democratic Party people who echoed what we heard in Roswell. They said the Republicans in Otero County seem disorganized. Then on to Las Cruces for more media interviews and a visit with the Dem Party there. Same Mantra. In Dona Ana County the first batch of absentee ballots that were mailed out were 75% Democratic.

My schedule for the next few days is hectic.

He Actually Said It

My opponent actually said that Environmental Watchdog Agencies had no business on state trust land because the only concern of the Land Office should be to make money. This was taped for broadcast on Roswell Cable TV and I will get a copy of the full statement and post it here.

Other than that, it was a civil evening in Roswell. I am told by some of the Democrats here that the Republican Party is in disarray. They say the moderates are fed up with the neo cons. Tonights events at the First Baptist Church seem to bear that out. There were candidates there, but no support apparatus. The Democrats had a loaded down table of signs, literature, bumper stickers and pins. The Republican table had nothing. The Democratic County Chair, Tom Jennings and his vice chair were in attendance, but so far as I could tell no Republican party officials were there. This all indicates to me a suppressed republican party turn out on November 11th.

Travel to the Oil Patch

I went into the oil patch today in Chaves and Eddy county to do media interviews. There seems not to be a lot of interest down here in the upcoming election. It may be that there are no good local races that are competitive and most folks down here think the Governor and Senator Bingaman are a lock. It will be interesting to see what the turn out might actually be down here.

We will do a candidate forum in Roswell tonight and then travel Highway 70 to Las Cruces tomorrow for a half hour TV show.

Battlestar Galactica

I finally had time to see my digital recording from last Friday night of Battlestar Galactica. The consistently good series struck gold again with a two hour season premiere. It was really about Iraq. It was great.

More Land Office Scandal

Pat Lyons said that his disgraced solar deal in the southern part of the state near Deming would continue after it was discovered some of his partners were convicted felons. He said those partners would leave the deal and it would continue with the remaining partners. Well, look at this story about the remaining partners in the "Worlds Largest Solar Development" that ran in the Albuquerque Journal today.

One really has to question the competence of the Lyon's administration for not checking out the people they are doing business with.

How Convenient

I guess I am now a part of the 'conspiracy theory' crowd, but I think it is just too convenient that this North Korean A-Bomb thingie has cropped up just four weeks from election day. Lets see, it provides cover for Iraq, Foley, massive debt, unforgiveable incompetence, and numerous other scandals of the bush administration. Wag the Dog.

My erstwile treasurer Rodger Beimer, who is assistant manager at the State Fair, just got back from touring by car a bunch of other state fairs from Iowa to Texas. He said he saw very little evidence by the roadside about the impending election. There were few political signs. This is the biggest one he saw. This could be deemed a dead end political office.

Greek Juxtaposition

So, my last quick post before leaving for Greek Festival for good food and fun with Bobbi was about the 'cheesy' lights on the mountain. Then I read the paper and Councillor Deb O'Malley referred to it as 'cheesy' too. Well the point of this post is the Sandia Mountains via Greek Festival.We go to Greek Festival every year. It is just really a great evening watching dancing, eating great food, drinking wine(1 glass allowed for candidates), and seeing friends.

This is Brian Cobble and Julie Kutz. Brian is brother of Steve Cobble who I think is one of the smartest guys I have ever known, except for that thing about his support of a guy name Nader a few years back.

Brian is an incredible artist and if I win this race I will buy one of his pastels.

Anyway, were sitting there talking when the subject of the cheesy lights on the mountain came up. Julie said that when she was a child her first attendance at a political protest was with her father. They were protesting the building of an unnecessary road through the forest on the east side of the Sandias. That battle was won and Julie and Brian are now accomplished activists.

Julie's dad Jack and her mom Ladonna were pioneering rock climbers in the Sandias and were the first to scale many of the sheer faces of the mountain. This is a photo of Julie and her dad.
I just thought this was all an interesting juxtaposition of occurrences. Blog about the mountain, meet political activists who helped save the mountain, and have a good time at Greek Festival. And pick up some support from all those Greek voters.....

Cheesy

I am sorry, but I think those lights on the Sandia Mountains are kind of cheesy. When I first learned they would be up there for a few days I thought it might look interesting. But they just look cheesy. It is good they won't be there for long. It is one of those things that just didn't work out. We should all shrug and turn them off asap.

Busy

We flew to Clovis and back by 12:15 today. There was a really nice opening of the Democratic HQ there. Senator Bingaman, Governor Richardson, Congressman Udall and the rest of us statewide candidates were there along with a really large crowd of Curry, Roosevelt and Quay County Democrats. I forgot to take my camera, so no pictures today.

There was a good editorial in the Ruidoso News today.

Now, I have to run home to set my recorder to record Battle Star Galactica on the Sci Fi Channel. It is a really good show and I have been following it for two years. I can't watch the season premiere tonight because I have a fundraiser in Santa Fe sponsored by the Governor and Lt. Governor. It is from 6-8PM at the Lodge of Santa Fe. Come on by.

Things To Do

This has been a busy day.

1. Candidate forum with my opponent. He says disabled students will suffer because I want to protect state lands. (I denied it.)

2. KOB-TV taping of Eye on New Mexcio with my opponent. He says I will put radical environmentalism in front of the well being of children, teachers, their parents and the state economy.(in that order, I denied it) You should really watch this show if you want to see the clear differences between my opponent and me. It will air at 10AM this Sunday morning. It was a lot more fun for me I think.

3. Interview with Taos News from my cell phone driving to Santa Fe. Yes, I have a handsfree device. I talked about my platform for change at the Land Office.

4. Interview with KKOB Radio's Art Ortega for 15 minute taped show. It was mainly me talking in five minute spurts from my cell phone in the House of Representatives Chambers in the state Capitol

5. Interview with endorsement board of the Santa Fe Reporter. I had to defend my self against charges by my opponent that I was guilty of radical environmentalism. They had a pop quiz for me and I think I answered most of the questions correctly.

6. Fundraiser at Senator Dede Feldman's house. She lives right around the corner from us so it wont require a long drive.

The rest of the month will be like this, or worse in the terms of hectic schedules. Just expect to hear anything about me from the Karl Rove inspired campaign team of my opponent.

Ruidoso News Take

Here is a link to the Ruidoso News story on the non debate between my opponent and me on Monday in Ruidoso. It is very accurate.

My opponent is obviously worried about my growing support amongst hunters and sportsmen. He had attempted to trade off to corporate interests some our our best hunting lands early in his term. Governor Richardson and Attorney General Patsy Madrid stopped him. Now he is out with some news release stating I gave away 68,000 acres of hunting land when I was Commissioner. I have no idea what he is talking about, unless it was land we traded to the BLM to create the Bisti and De-Na-Zin wilderness areas. Senator Pete Domenici favored that wilderness designation. Here is the news release I issued last June about protecting hunting access.

You should definitely go to Bisti on a cool day. It is an other-worldly experience.

Journal Poll

I feel good about the results of the Albuquerque Journal Poll today. Despite being heavily outspent by my incumbent opponent I am still leading him with just five weeks to go. I am at 43% and he is at 39%. He will most certainly start spending quite a bit of his oil and gas industry donations over the next five weeks, but so far he still hasn't been able to move. It is gratifying to see his first negative commercials had so little effect. I hope the public will understand that every bit of his media buy will be funded by those who do business with the State Land Office. Once again, that is a good reason for public financing of this race in the future.

I still need to raise money in the next couple of weeks for TV buys. You can donate at jimbaca.com

Ten Thousand Votes

There is some debate whether the Oil and Gas Industry's endorsement of my opponent in the Land Commissioner race won me 10,000 or 50,000 votes. Of course, I am being satirical here but I am sure it will be used as proof that I hate the oil patch. That just isn't true.

Here are the stories in the Albuquerque Journal and the Santa Fe New Mexican. I especially like the New Mexican's comment section.

Moon Mountain One Sided Debate and Oil and Gas One Sided Debate

Monday was one of those days where you just couldn't be in two places at once. I had told the Ruidoso Federated Women's Club that I would attend their debate on Monday morning at 9:30am. This appointment was made a couple of months ago. I was also asked to attend the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association annual meeting in Santa Fe. I have attended that many times in the past when I was either running for Land Commissioner or serving in the post.

I opted for Ruidoso because Pat Lyons had agreed to be there and we could go head to head on the Moon Mountain controversy. So, I ran down to Ruidoso instead of going to Santa Fe. It was a totally one sided debate in Ruidoso before about 60 people. Pat Lyons didn't show up. He was in Santa Fe at the NMOGA meeting before 60 people, where I didn't show up, but only after calling them two weeks ago and telling them I couldn't make it. My campaign manager Mike Davis did go to Santa Fe for me. The Ruidoso folks were surprised that Lyons didn't appear since he said he would be there. When it was announced I wouldn't appear in front of NMOGA there were applause. Ouch! Well, here is my pledge. If I am elected, I will work fairly and evenhandedly with anyone who does business with the Land Office.

For the record, I have received no campaign contributions from oil and gas and my opponent has recieved around $500,000 more or less. We will soon know exactly how much since the next reporting date for contributors to state wide races is next Monday.


Apparently Pat Lyons and John Dendahl both reiterated big time support for drilling in Otero Mesa, and surprisingly, Valle Vidal. Lyons supported drilling in Valle Vidal by saying that Ted Turner's ranch had been drilled and it didn't look so bad. Ted didn't own the mineral rights there. Ted Turner sent me a $2000 check today. How is that for timing?

Apparently at the end of the NMOGA session the moderator asked all assembled to donate money to my opponent and to Heather Wilson. No surprises there.

Radical!

Well, he finally did it. Pat Lyons in the Santa Fe New Mexican today called me a radical environmentalist.

What is it with Republican candidates that they always have to resort to calling names? President Bush & Vice-President Cheney are calling their Iraq War opponents names. John Dendahl calls school teachers socialists, for crying out loud. And now Pat Lyons is using his 900,000 dollars in special interest money, mostly raised from the oil-and-gas industry, to call me a "radical environmentalist". I guess he doesn't have anything positive to say about his pro-oil-and-gas policies.

Let me define radical for you from my standpoint. If I am a radical for not giving in to the oil and gas industry's every wish at the expense of our landscapes, watersheds and wild life, then yes, I guess I am radical.

If I am a radical for believing in science being able to help make decisions on land and water use, then yes, I am radical.

To borrow from Al Gore, it may be an "inconvenient truth", but scientists do believe it is a truth--we are going through one of the hottest periods in world history. It would be interesting if some reporter would ask Pat if he believes those scientists--does he believe in global warming? Does he believe that global warming is a crisis? Does he agree with the scientists who say that we only have a few years to deal with climate change? And if he says he does, what has he done in his term to help?

I think the one thing the voters who are paying attention to this race can be thankful for is that the lines are clearly drawn in the race and that you know where the candidates stand.