Victory 2000 Exec. Dir.: Michael Kozeliski

Republican Party of New Mexico
Chairman:  John Dendahl
Exec. Dir.: Kevin Moomaw
Office:  2901 Juan Tabo NE, Suite 115, Albuquerque 

Coordinated Campaign Director: Temoc Figueroa/Scott Nunnery

Democratic Party of New Mexico
Chairwoman: Diane Denish 
Exec. Dir.: David Alire-Garcia
Office: 5317 Menaul Blvd NE, Albuquerque

Nov. 2 -- Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) "Rollin' to Victory" bus tour in Eastern New Mexico.

Oct. 29 -- Foreign policy advisor Condoleezza Rice speaks to students at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.

Oct. 28 -- El Paso, Texas mayor Carlos Ramirez, a Democrat, and U.S. Rep. Joe Skeen (R-NM) speak in support of Bush and Republican candidates at a fundraiser at John Salopek Farm near Mesilla (Doña Ana County).

Oct. 23 -- "Barnstorm for Reform" tour -- Govs. Johnson (NM), Kempthorne (ID), Owens (CO) and Leavitt (UT) and Texas Democrat Hugo Berlanga stop at a restaurant in Las Cruces and at the Barelas Senior Center and the Women's Resource Center in Albuquerque.

Oct. 22 -- Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), Texas Railroad Commissioner Tony Garza, Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-TX) and El Paso, Texas mayor Carlos Ramirez, a Democrat, on "Viva Victory Tour," a full-day caravan in Northern New Mexico (Democratic territory).  The day started with breakfast in Las Vegas, followed by a stop in Mora, lunch in Taos, and finally barbecue in Espanola. 

Oct. 4 -- New Mexico Public Safety Officers for Bush luncheon event at McGilvray's Restaurant in Albuquerque; Gov. Frank Keating (R-OK) speaks.

Sept. 15 -- Emilio Estefan, newly named chairman of the Bush-Cheney 2000 National Latino Coalition, speaks to reporters before Bush's education event in Albuquerque.

Nov. 1 -- A group including Elizabeth Birch, executive director of Human Rights Campaign, Alice Germond, vice president of NARAL, David Foreman, founder of Earth First!, Debbie Sease, legislative director of the Sierra Club, and David Gomez of Native Americans for Gore hold news conference at the Inn of the Turquoise Bear in Santa Fe. [initially planned as "Get Out the Vote for Gore Rally" with guitarist Stephen Stills, but he had to cancel].

Oct. 28 -- Central Labor Council and coordinated campaign rally at Genoveva Chavez Community Center in Santa Fe featuring Ted Danson, actor and founding president of the American Oceans Campaign.

Oct. 27 -- Gore supporters including mountaineer Jim Frush (of Seattle, president of the Alpine Institute; led Gore and his son up Mt. Ranier) and Max Kennedy (founder/co-director of the Watershed Institute, son of  Robert F. Kennedy) warn against voting for Nader at a luncheon at Hotel Santa Fe in Santa Fe.

Oct. 22 -- Former Cabinet Secretary Henry Cisneros in Albuquerque, Nambe and Santa Fe.

Oct. 17 -- Hadassah Lieberman holds informal discussion with women about health care, long-term care, Medicare and prescription drugs at YWCA of the Middle Rio Grande in Albuquerque.

Oct. 14-15 -- Kristin Gore in NM.  Oct. 14 Ballooning, meets with IBEW members, and goes door to door in Albuquerque.  Oct. 15 helps paint at the Villa Consuelo apartment complex and stops in at NEA hall in Santa Fe.

Oct. 13 -- Calif. State Sen. Tom Hayden at Randall Davey Audubon Center in Santa Fe urges environmentalists to back Gore.

Sept. 29 -- EPA administrator Carol Browner speaks in support of Democrats to environmentalists in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Sept. 25 -- President Clinton speaks at a New Mexico Coordinated Campaign Victory 2000 reception at La Fonda hotel in Santa Fe.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice (Oct. 30, 2000 report) for the week of Oct. 17-24, the Albuquerque market was tops in the nation for the number of presidential ads run with 998 (three other markets had more than 900 spots that week: Las Vegas, Orlando, and Portland, OR).  The Bush campaign, Republican party and supportive groups ran 394 total ads. 

Ads in Spanish included:
B-C: "Same As Mine" Oct. 18
RNC: "Nuestros Hijos" Oct.19

According to the Brennan Center for Justice (Oct. 30, 2000 report) for the week of Oct. 17-24, the Albuquerque market was tops in the nation for the number of presidential ads run with 998 (three other markets had more than 900 spots that week: Las Vegas, Orlando, and Portland, OR).  The Gore campaign, Democratic party and supportive groups ran 604 total ads. 

Ads in Spanish included:
G-L: "Rostros de Norte America" Oct. 16
DNC "Niños" Oct. 23

NARAL ran its anti-Nader ad "Think" in New Mexico during the closing week of the campaign.

The Bush team ran a very aggressive grassroots campaign; for example there were e-mail campaign coordinators for each county and a number of solid outreach efforts including nontraditional voters (Viva Bush!), veterans, farmers and ranchers, educators, public safety officers, and Native Americans.  Fuller said "quality, not quantity" was the objective. 

Viva Bush! had its origins in New Mexico in the senior George Bush's 1992 campaign.  In 2000, the Viva Bush! coalition held its first formal meeting on May 5, after a Bush policy speech in Albuquerque.  George P. Bush attended the formal launch some weeks later.  Ben Montoya, president and CEO of Public Service Company of New Mexico, and Susanna Martinez, the district attorney in judicial district 3, chaired the Viva Bush! effort and Lou Gallegos, chief of staff to Gov. Johnson, did much of the hands on work. 

Overtures to Native Americans did not prove as successful as hoped.  Bush met privately with leaders during his Aug. 19 visit and Sen. Domenici followed up with a later meeting.   Although the All Indian Pueblo Council endorsed Gore, Pojoaque Pueblo (Gov. Jake Viarrial) and Zuni Pueblo (Gov. Malcolm Bowekaty) backed Bush as did the Mescalero Apacho Tribe.

The fact that New Mexico borders on Texas helped Bush to a degree.  In the closing weeks of the campaign an assortment of Texans from places such as El Paso, Midland and Amarillo, either referred by their local parties or on their own initiative, headed to New Mexico to help out.  In the last weekend, "strike force team" of some 75 Texans waved signs and went door to door in swing precincts in Albuquerque.  News reports note that volunteers from El Paso headed over to nearby Las Cruces to help get out the vote in the closing days of the campaign.  Bush won 12 counties in the eastern part of the state bordering Texas. 

How could Bush have gained the few hundred votes he needed?  During the campaign, state director James Fuller argued strongly for television in Doña Ana County (Las Cruces).  Believing that the Las Cruces market is not well served by Albuquerque, almost 193 miles to the north, he wanted TV buys in El Paso, Texas (16 miles away) or at least cable in Doña Ana County, but he could not get it done.  [At a post-election panel, Bush strategist Matthew Dowd mused that adding some TV in the El Paso market might have swung the state into the Bush column]. 

Fuller also said he would like to have had Bush at the opening of the National Hispanic Cultural Center of New Mexico on Oct. 22.  Finally, he might have done voter identification differently.  Traditionally, calls are made in the first or second week of October, and supporters can then be called back.  The Bush campaign opted to do voter identification using demographic information rather than calls.

For example, the First District, which encompasses Bernalillo County (Albuquerque) has many swing precincts.  Republican Heather Wilson won the First District House seat in a costly June 23, 1998 special election.  In 2000 she carried Bernalillo County by 50% to 44% with 6% for the Green candidate (96,458 votes to 84,394 with 12,528 for the Green).  Meanwhile, Gore carried Bernalillo County by 49% to 47% with 4% for Nader (99,461 votes to 95,249 with 8,274 for Nader).  Because of the swing factor, targeting is very important. 

Meanwhile in the northern part of the state, counties such as Rio Arriba and Mora are dominated by Democrats, but the people here often need to be encouraged to get out and vote, necessitating a fair degree of personal attention--door knocking and calls. 

New Mexico Democrats ran a tiered campaign consolidating their base supporters and casting a sweeping net to bring in the Democratic occasional voters.  The coordinated campaign program targeting occasional voters for absentee voting was a key ingredient in their success.  Absentee voting in New Mexico is a two-step process; voters must first request an application and then fill out and send in the application.  Democratic organizers ensured voters made it through the process with phone calls and door knocking.

On Election Day, Democrats worked to get all possible supporters to the polls; hundreds of union activists helped to get out voters, Karenna Gore Schiff did radio interviews during the day, President Clinton did some radio interviews in northern New Mexico, and Vice President Gore appeared on all three 5 p.m. newscasts.