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White House hopefuls covet endorsements from New Mexico officials

By Erik Siemers
Wednesday, January 30, 2008

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Unless you're a tried-and-true loyalist to the New Mexico Democratic Party, the name Hector Balderas may not mean much to you. He's only held one statewide office, and that for just a year.

But in recent weeks Balderas — who is the state auditor, by the way — has been a topic of discussion among the Democratic front-runners for president.

The campaigns of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sought his endorsement.

"I was quite flattered to be courted by both sides," said the 34-year-old former prosecutor and legislator from Wagon Mound. "Up until three-and-a-half years ago I was not active in politics."

As Clinton and Obama duel for New Mexico's delegates ahead of Tuesday's Democratic presidential caucus, their campaign staffs are busy collecting the endorsements of elected state Democrats like Balderas, as if the nods are rare political currency.

While the value of an endorsement is debated among pundits, the Obama and Clinton campaigns this week nevertheless emphasized their growing lists of significant supporters.

The Clinton campaign on Tuesday held two conference calls with New Mexico reporters. In the first, moderated by Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, it announced the endorsements of the mayors of Santa Fe, Espa¤ola, Las Vegas, Portales, Taos and Socorro. The second call featured the endorsement of Peterson Zah, a former president and chairman of the Navajo Nation.

Obama's campaign, meanwhile, released a list of 21 elected officials now endorsing the Illinois senator, including former Gov. Jerry Apodaca, eight state legislators, members of various American Indian tribes, the mayor of Las Cruces and others.

New Mexico is sharing the stage with 21 other states holding primaries or caucuses Tuesday.

With little time left to campaign and so many states in play, the candidates can't devote as much time in the so-called Super-Duper Tuesday states as they did earlier in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Instead, they're using endorsements to spread their network of support across the state faster and with fewer resources, said Lonna Atkeson, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico.

"I do think the reason behind this is to attract people (who) are out there advocating on their behalf, because they don't have the time and resources in terms of people to do that mobilization on the ground," Atkeson said.

Social science studies have shown that endorsements, such as those from newspapers, can sway voters, Atkeson said. And certainly, she added, big-name politicians such as Gov. Bill Richardson — who has yet to pick a candidate since he dropped out of the race — can swing votes.

But the laundry lists of lower-level politicians being rolled out by the campaigns, she said, could confuse voters.

"The point of an endorsement is to cue people to say this is who they're supporting," Atkeson said. "Here you have all of the state Democratic leaders lining up on different sides of the campaigns. That's a confusing cue to most voters. They're not sending a single message — they're sending multiple messages."

Brian Col¢n, chairman of the New Mexico Democratic Party, believes there is significance in an endorsement.

"If (endorsements) don't mean anything, we're all playing a game with each other," said Col¢n, a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention who hasn't endorsed a candidate yet. "But we're all investing energy in that game. I don't feel it's misplaced."

As evidence of that investment, consider the story of Balderas.

Balderas was just 30 years old and watching the campaigns from his couch during the 2004 presidential cycle.

Four years later, he's the country's youngest Hispanic statewide elected official, and is being wooed by high-profile surrogates for two of the country's leading Democrats.

The Clinton campaign sent Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Obama sent Federico Pe¤a, whose r‚sum‚ includes stints as mayor of Denver and the U.S. secretary of energy and transportation.

Balderas, a one-term legislator placed on the 2006 ballot for auditor by his party, knows that while he's not a household name, he fits into two strategic categories coveted by both campaigns.

"There's a demographics war. They're trying to court institutional leaders and they're trying to court up-and-comers," said Balderas. "I'm probably one of the rare officials, not just in the nation, but in the state who has his foot in both arenas."

Ultimately he chose Clinton — an endorsement unveiled last week — due to her plans to curb the high school drop-out rate and for early childhood education.

The mayors who joined the Clinton bandwagon Tuesday mostly voiced their preference for the New York senator's experience. It was the same with Zah of the Navajo Nation, who spoke of his personal interactions with the Clintons.

On the Obama side, Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima believes his candidate's message of change is inspirational. And as an elected official who defeated an incumbent, Miyagishima said he feels a connection to Obama.

What he doesn't know, however, is whether his endorsement will matter to anybody else.

"If the fact I support Obama is enough to push them over toward us, I'd be happy that would occur," Miyagishima said. But, he added, "I'm not naive to think just because I support someone means everybody will support them."