An early primary could make N.M. matter
The state of California just did something that the state of New Mexico ought to do. California Gov. Jerry Brown last week signed legislation to move the state’s 2020 presidential primary to March. That’s designed to give the nation’s most populous state a lot more clout in the Democratic and Republican nominating processes.
“The Golden State will no longer be relegated to last place in the presidential nominating process,” California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement.
Nope. That “honor” will go to New Mexico. We’re last in everything else, why not primaries, too?
For as long as I remember, the California primary has been held in June — on the same day as New Mexico’s.
The main reason I remember this little piece of political trivia is because it was seared into my brain in 1968, when U.S. Sen. Bobby Kennedy was fatally shot in a Los Angeles hotel minutes after declaring victory in the California primary.
Back in those days, it wasn’t unusual for hotly contested presidential nominations to go into June of an election year. That can still happen. In fact, just last year Hillary Clinton didn’t officially clinch the Democratic nomination until she won the California primary in June after a bruising battle with Bernie Sanders. (Historical footnote: She also won the New Mexico primary last year.)
But last year was an exception, not the rule (in so many ways). In the past several decades, contested nominations in both major parties usually are settled weeks, if not months, before the sunny days of June.
So California will be a major factor in 2020 on the Democratic side — and quite possibly, for the GOP as well, if a credible never-Trump candidate emerges.
And once again, the New Mexico primary won’t matter.
To his credit, former Gov. Bill Richardson tried to make New Mexico more relevant in the Democratic primary process. He successfully pushed legislation to allow both major parties to conduct (and pay for) their own presidential caucuses in February in an election year.
Granted, his motives weren’t exactly pure since he was gearing up for his own 2008 presidential run. But the move put New Mexico on presidential candidates’ radar for a couple of election cycles.
The state Republican Party opted not to hold a caucus. That made sense in 2004 because then-incumbent President George W. Bush had no visible primary opposition. But I think they blew an opportunity in 2008.
The 2004 New Mexico Democratic Caucus was a roaring success. Several candidates made repeated visits to the state, including John Kerry, who won the caucus and later the nomination; Howard Dean; Wesley Clark; Dennis Kucinich and probably others I’m forgetting. Dean held a massive rally on the Santa Fe Plaza in the summer of 2003. Kucinich participated in some kind of New Age ceremony in the Roundhouse Rotunda. But my favorite memory of that caucus was former Lt. Gov. Roberto Mondragon leading hundreds of Clark supporters singing a moving version of “De Colores” at the Inn at Loretto while waiting for the candidate to arrive.
The 2008 caucus wasn’t as successful. That year, everyone expected Richardson to be the favorite son, so other contenders ignored the state until Richardson dropped out in January. Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton came to New Mexico for last-minute campaign rallies. Nearly 153,000 Democrats voted, but the contest was so close, it took nine days to hand count all the ballots. (Clinton won by about 1 percent.) The experience left a bitter taste in many mouths, and neither party here has since attempted to hold a presidential caucus.
With our small population, a New Mexico primary never will be as prominent as California — or most other states — in the crazy U.S. presidential nomination game.
But I wish the state would move up the date to make us matter just a little more.