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Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Cheney Raises Money, Presses Agenda in Artesia

By Rene Romo
Journal Southern Bureau
    ARTESIA— Vice President Dick Cheney dropped into New Mexico's oil patch Monday to rally support and raise campaign money for 2nd Congressional District Rep. Steve Pearce.
    "You are united behind a strong leader and a dedicated representative. ... Steve has the right priorities for the state," Cheney said at a 6:30 p.m. reception under a tent adjacent to the headquarters of Marbob Energy Corporation.
    "The president and I look forward to working with him for many years to come," the vice president said.
    Cheney told a crowd of about 300 people at a re-election fund-raiser for Pearce that President Bush has worked hard to revive the national economy and protect Americans from terrorist threats.
    Marbob, a major Eddy County employer, was ranked fourth in oil production and 17th in natural gas production in New Mexico in 2002, according to the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. But a local Republican said the site was chosen because it had one of the few facilities in town large enough to play host.
    Pearce, a first-term Republican, said the coming November election is critical.
    "I'm proud to work with our president and I'm proud to work with our vice president because they are men of integrity," Pearce said. "They are men of courage and they are men who have stood their ground under tremendous political fire."
    Eddy County Republican Party Chairman Chuck Moran said, in his memory, Cheney was the highest-ranking member of a sitting administration to visit Artesia.
    "What it is is an expression of the importance of New Mexico in the national races with regard to getting Republicans elected (to Congress)," Moran said.
    Tickets to the Artesia event were $250-per-person and supporters could have a photo taken with the vice president and his wife, Lynne, for $1,000.
    Southern New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District, held for two decades by the late conservative Republican Joe Skeen before Pearce's election in 2002, is expected to be hotly contested this year.
    Two Democrats, Jeff Steinborn of Las Cruces, a former aide to Sen. Jeff Bingaman, and Gary King, son of former three-time Gov. Bruce King and a new resident of Carlsbad, are seeking their party's nomination to challenge Pearce in November.