Campaign Techniques Have Changed

Mario Montoya and I visited Grants and Gallup for some campaigning yesterday. Grants looks a little bit stressed and Gallup looks very properous.

This is Mario in front of the historic El Rancho Hotel in Gallup where we had lunch.

It has become evident to me that the way you campaign in New Mexico has undergone a significant shift. It used to be that you could come into a town and hit all the government centers to shake hands and pass out literature. It was a good way of meeting people who were usually regular voters. Now, when you go into most County or City offices there is a guard at the front entrance and quite often a screening process. Once you get through that process you are usually separated from the employees by bullet proof glass barriers. In the new McKinley County Offices all I could do was pass brochures through the openings and ask if the person on the other side could distribute them. It is a pretty impersonal way of politicking! It is not this way everywhere, but it is still a trend that government employees are separated from the people they serve.

It also used to be very easy to drop into the local newspapers to do an interview, but even that is more difficult because most of the newspapers are now owned by out of state concerns. I have been told on numerous occasions that the papers aren't really capable of doing indepth interviews for stories or endorsements. The lack of local involvment is a little disconcerting. I think the local folks would like to do these interviews, but they are really cut back to bare bones staffs and the literally don't have time to do it. There are very few locally owned publications in our state any more. We did do a nice interview with Grants Beacon newspaper.

The same can be said for many of the radio stations. They are for the most part just rebroadcasting satellite programing and they have no local news departments any more. It is hard work to get any air time with them, although you can schedule an appearance on a talk show once in a while.

Still, though, it is great to get out and meet people around New Mexico. Mario was sort of amazed at how many people still recognize me from my television news career. I am too.

I love the Red Rock formations near Gallup. They are mystical.