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Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Wilson Weighing Run for Governor in 2010
By Michael Coleman
Journal Washington Bureau
Rep. Heather Wilson said this week that she is "seriously considering" a run for governor of New Mexico in 2010, and plans to remain a player in state and national Republican Party politics in the meantime.
"I will continue to be very active," Wilson said in an interview with the Journal. "There is a lot of work that we (Republicans) have to do."
There's also some work Wilson will have to do revive her own political career.
Wilson represented the Albuquerque-based 1st Congressional District for the past 10 years, but she decided not to seek re-
election to the House seat in order to run for the U.S. Senate after Republican Sen. Pete Domenici announced he would retire after six terms. She lost the battle for the Republican nomination in June to fellow New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce of Hobbs. Pearce went on to lose to Democratic Rep. Tom Udall in the November general election.
Wilson is an Air Force Academy graduate, Rhodes Scholar and former National Security Council aide. She served on both the Armed Services and intelligence committees in the House and officially ends her tenure as a U.S. representative Saturday. She said she will earn money in the near term by doing defense and national intelligence consulting. She also said she plans to serve on a corporate board or two.
Wilson declined to say which organizations will sign her paychecks because she had not cleared any announcements with them. She said she has no plans, at least in the near term, to take on any full-time work for a single employer.
"I will probably be doing different kinds of work for several different organizations and institutions," Wilson said.
Wilson also has signed on with Leading Authorities, a Washington, D.C.-based speaker's bureau. She said the bureau will help her line up paid speaking engagements, most likely on the subjects of defense, intelligence and national security.
Otherwise, she said, she will help the state and national Republican parties "recruit, educate and develop the next generation of Republican candidates."
Wilson ruled out making another run for the Albuquerque-based U.S. House seat that she gave up to run for the Senate this year. Democrat Martin Heinrich, a former Albuquerque city councilor, will be sworn in as Wilson's replacement next week.
"I'm excited about new prospects," Wilson said, adding that she was unsure when she might make an official decision about whether to run for governor.
Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, a Democrat, is poised to take over the governorship of New Mexico next month, pending current Gov. Bill Richardson's confirmation as U.S. commerce secretary in President-elect Barack Obama's administration. Denish has said she plans to run for a full, four-year term in 2010.
Brian Sanderoff, the Journal's pollster and a longtime observer of New Mexico politics, said Wilson would bring immediate credibility to the Republican Party's effort to retake the fourth floor of the Roundhouse in Santa Fe. However, he said that although she has proved herself as a vote-getter in population-dense Albuquerque, she has not prevailed in a statewide election contest.
"I think she would be a very viable candidate to run against Diane Denish," Sanderoff said. "I can't think of a Republican who would be more viable right now. But we'll have to wait and see about Diane Denish's popularity a year from now."
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