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Thursday, February 7, 2008

Outcome of N.M. Caucus 'Embarrassing'

By Jeff Jones and Trip Jennings
Copyright © 2008 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writers
    New Mexico's Super Tuesday Democratic presidential caucus was Super Embarrassment on Wednesday and results of the close contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could be days away.
    "It makes us a laughingstock of ineptitude," said Andrew Mook of Rio Rancho, 64, who made two attempts to vote Tuesday at an overcrowded Rio Rancho High School caucus site before casting a provisional ballot elsewhere.
    "Why must we continue to suffer these vestiges of total incompetence?" Mook asked.
    "It's embarrassing when you look at the maps of the nation on who won and lost the states— and you see a big asterisk by New Mexico," Journal pollster Brian Sanderoff said.
    Just how bad are things in New Mexico?
   

Out of 22 states that had Democratic nominating contests Tuesday, New Mexico is the only one that couldn't report a winner— and still can't. The New Mexico Democratic Party organized and ran the caucus and is counting the votes.
   

With Clinton leading Obama by 1,092 statewide votes Wednesday evening, according to The Associated Press, results will hinge on nearly 17,000 provisional ballots— the ones issued to voters who have problems at the polls. But the party had not begun counting these ballots by Wednesday evening; it could start today.
   

The party may be at least partly to blame for the flood of provisional ballots. With people waiting hours to vote at some caucus sites, some decided to cast provisional ballots outside their precincts.
   

Others who bailed out didn't vote at all: Rio Rancho High School was ground zero for voting problems, with a line of 1,900 people reported at one point, and Mook estimated that "a couple thousand people" wound up walking away during the course of the day without voting in the Clinton-Obama battle.
   
Accepting blame
    Democratic Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez took aim at the Super Tuesday troubles on Wednesday. "Duh! There might be a lot of people voting? ... It's just an embarrassment."
    Gov. Bill Richardson also had some strong words: "I have expressed my frustration to Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón," he said in statement.
    Richardson successfully pushed in 2003 to move his party's presidential nominating contest from the regular June primary election to early February.
    He said Wednesday that voters "must decide whether they want to preserve their early voice in the process in the future, and what form it should take."
    Colón said Wednesday that he accepts responsibility for the Super Tuesday problems in New Mexico, though he also pointed to an unexpectedly high turnout of more than 153,000 voters and New Mexico's long history of close races. The turnout was close to 30 percent.
    "The buck stops with me. I lay it squarely on my shoulders," Colón said. "We've got to work harder."
   
Reasons for problems
    Colón said last month that he had expected 30,000 to 40,000 of New Mexico's 532,000-plus registered Democrats to show up for voting on Tuesday.
    But that estimate came before the Clinton and Obama campaigns kicked their New Mexico efforts into high gear with TV and radio ad blitzes, a parade of high-profile endorsements and last-minute visits from the candidates themselves.
    And Tuesday's turnout easily eclipsed New Mexico's first February Democratic presidential caucus in 2004, which drew 104,000.
    As it did in 2004, the party consolidated hundreds of voting precincts into a smaller number of caucus sites: There were 184 for Tuesday's vote.
    The party also again shortened the normal state-election voting time: Although state elections start at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m., caucus voting hours were noon to 7 p.m.
    There were long lines for the 2004 caucus, but they couldn't hold a candle to the mess on Tuesday, with long lines reported nearly everywhere.
   
'Deeply disturbed'
    As the state's highest Democratic elected official, Richardson is at least the symbolic head of the New Mexico party.
    Asked whether the governor reviewed his party's caucus plan before Tuesday, spokesman Pahl Shipley said he was focused on other things during the past month.
    "He was fully involved in his presidential campaign until Jan. 11 and then fully involved in the state's legislative session," Shipley said. "Party officials, not the governor, were responsible for the caucus."
    The governor acknowledged that problems from Tuesday's caucus reflect poorly on New Mexico, but Shipley said it isn't an example of New Mexico's historical problems with running elections.
    "I am deeply disturbed by the reports that problems and delays at polling locations may have kept people from voting," Richardson said. "As this very close election shows, every vote is important, and every vote must count. Anything less is unacceptable."
    Journal staff writer Leslie Linthicum contributed to this report.