Photo by Craig FritzTribune

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Roxane Spruce Bly (far left), a supporter of Patricia Madrid, along with Heather Wilson supporters (from near left) Randi Guthrie, Brian Schwatken and Linda Guthrie, listen to the candidates for Congressional District 1 debate Tuesday night.

Photo by Craig FritzTribune

Tribune

U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson makes her opening remarks during a televised debate with Democratic challenger state Attorney General Patricia Madrid. The two, engaged in a fierce battle that could determine which party controls the U.S. House, faced off Tuesday night at the University of New Mexico Continuing Education Building.

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Independent voter Daryl Olson heard some of what he hoped to hear about immigration during the televised debate between U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson and state Attorney General Patricia Madrid, her challenger.

But both women also made statements he didn't exactly like in Tuesday night's hourlong face-off on KOB-Channel 4 and KKOB-AM.

In a polite but pointed confrontation, the two candidates emphasized each other weaknesses and tried to point up their own strengths.

Nothing he heard was enough to change his mind, Olson said.

"I think the Democrats are weak on border security, just like the Republicans," said Olson, a 69-year old Federal Aviation Administration retiree.

Still, the man who in the past has voted for Republicans said after the debate he's glad he already voted this year for Madrid.

"I sure don't regret my vote," said Olson, who lives in Albuquerque's Precinct 405 - a closely divided section of the city that Wilson won by seven votes in 2004.

But almost in the same sentence, Olson, a leader in the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said he didn't vote for Madrid as much as he voted against Wilson.

Like Olson, a majority of voters have made up their minds in the Nov. 7 election.

But the candidates worked for an hour to persuade anyone who tuned in. Tuesday's face-off was the only televised debate in what is New Mexico's most interesting and tightly contested race.

Many of the topics - from immigration to Iraq, tax cuts and ethics - were familiar in a race dominated so far by TV advertising.

So who did better?

"If anybody got a bump up, it would have been Wilson, because she looked smoother and more comfortable in front of the camera," said University of New Mexico political science professor Christine Sierra.

But, that doesn't mean Madrid fared poorly, Sierra said.

"I think Patsy Madrid's major challenge was to not make any mistakes, given the momentum, and I don't think she made any major mistakes."

Other voters in the Northeast Heights precinct where Olson lives who watched the debate said they would stick to their candidate, including Republican John Volock, who said he thought Wilson did better.

"You could see in her talking that she's on her own," Volock said, referring to Wilson's effort to assert her independence from the Bush administration.

Susie Norman, a neighbor of Volock's and a Democrat, called Madrid the winner.

"I'm so ready for a change, I think the strongest points were made by Patricia Madrid where she said Heather Wilson voted 85 percent of the time with (President) Bush," Norman said.

Here's a look at some of the key moments from the debate at the University of New Mexico's Continuing Education Building.

Number of negative ads shown: Two.

Hosts Carla Aragon and Tom Joles asked each candidate to defend and react to the ads. The hosts said they did that because a majority of questions submitted online dealt with the slew of negative TV ads the candidates and their campaigns have been running.

Both candidates defended their ads, saying they needed a way to get their main messages across to voters.

On Iraq: Madrid recited her long-standing charge that Wilson shouldn't have voted for the war.

"My opponent, Heather Wilson, bears particular responsibility for the failed intelligence on the run-up to the war. She sat on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, and she was briefed. One month before she voted to authorize this president to go to Iraq, she knew, she was briefed by Sandia scientists here who told her that the (now-infamous aluminum) tubes were not appropriate for enriching uranium."

But Wilson, once director of European defense policy and arms control at the National Security Council, said she was told by former CIA Director George Tenet that the intelligence was good.

"The intelligence community said things that I couldn't say at the time that I can now. There was a 50/50 chance that he (Saddam Hussein) had weaponized small pox. They believed very strongly he had weaponized anthrax. . . . That's why I supported the authorization to use force."

On immigration: Both candidates said the country needs a comprehensive approach to border security.

"With respect to people who are already here, I oppose amnesty," Wilson said. "There are tens of thousands of people standing in line in embassies around the word who are trying to come here legally, and I don't think that someone who came here illegally should get to go the the front of the line."

Madrid said immigrants living in the country should be allowed to apply for citizenship.

"I believe in an earned path to power, where if people work, pay their taxes and not get in trouble with the law, they should be able to apply for citizenship, and I believe they should do it fairly and in the order they came here."

While Wilson said border security is about more than fences, Madrid said a 700-mile fence for a 2,000-mile border doesn't make sense.

On lobbyists in Washington: The candidates were asked about the ethics of accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists.

Madrid: "You have to be careful about taking large sums of money from lobbyists, but even if you do, it is only to give them access, to let you know about what their concerns are. Certainly it's not to have you vote or rule in any certain way or to obligate you in any way."

Wilson seized on Madrid's statement. "I can't believe what I just heard. Mrs. Madrid accepted $125,000 from a casino owner in southern New Mexico who had business pending in her office. $125,000. And then she just said, `That's only to give them access.' Only to give them access. No one buys access in my office. . . . Any New Mexican that wants to talk to me, it's not conditional to paying at the door."

One of Wilson's questions to Madrid: Can you cite something in your long career in public service that reassure New Mexicans you will prevent a tax increase?

Madrid: "Your president and you have voted for tax relief for the top 1 percent of taxpayers in this country, costing us an immeasurable amount of money. If I go to Congress, I will vote to repeal that tax relief. I do support tax relief for the middle class, even the upper middle class."

Madrid also said the marriage penalty should not stay on the books and denounced Wilson for not extending tax cuts to the middle class.

One of Madrid's questions to Wilson: Given your voting record, do you think Bush is a good president and why?

Wilson noted that the president "doesn't vote in the Congress, so it's a little hard to vote for him, or with him . . .," but has disagreed with Bush on several issues, including stem cell research. "I think they bring promise for a cure for people who are waiting for a cure."

Wilson also said she's tried to hold the administration accountable on a wide range of issues.

Other shows the debate was up against: The World Series on KASA-Channel 2, "Tornado Glory" on KNME-Channel 5, "Dancing with the Stars" on KOAT-Channel 7 and "NCIS" on KRQE News 13.