ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico - The mother of a New
Mexico air force pilot has been responsible for one of
the biggest scoops of the 2004 election campaign: she
managed to extract from John Kerry his own strategy to
deal with the Iraq debacle.
Kerry, the
Democratic senator running for the US presidency in
November, answered that he would immediately ask for
international support - meaning the United Nations, the
European Union and the Arab world; "un-Americanize" the
occupation; and internationalize all decisions. If this
is not a mere campaign promise, it means the end of the
neo-con agenda for Iraq. Talking to reporters later,
Kerry added: "I think our troops are in greater risk
today, because of the lack of leadership, frankly. I
think the president has made some enormous mistakes in
respect to Iraq. The intelligence, the mistakes in
strategy, decisions, timing ..."
According to
Vietnam War historian Marilyn Young, Iraq is now
"Vietnam on crack cocaine". Until this exchange with the
mother of the air force pilot, Kerry was practically mum
on Iraq, venturing only to say he was in favor of
sending more troops and keeping them on the ground until
Iraq, maybe by an intervention from Divine Providence
against imperial hubris, becomes "stable, peaceful,
tolerant and free".
Kerry, along with Vanessa,
one of his daughters, came to New Mexico's capital this
Tuesday on a Champion Airlines flight for a whirlwind
one-hour tour of an elementary school, before leaving in
a hurry to Los Angeles. In a blue blazer, khaki slacks,
and blue checkered shirt with no tie, he posed for the
inevitable photo with a wheelchair-bound Vietnam
veteran, Jim Buhaug. He signed Kerry posters at the
airport. And then he spoke to about 100 fans at
Longfellow Elementary School. He's still stiff and as
sexy as a spreadsheet on the campaign trail. Wife Teresa
"Ketchup Queen" Heinz Kerry should at least have taught
him a few charming words in Spanish. And somebody from
Kerry's California staff should urgently consider hiring
a Hollywood public relations diva.
Kerry argued
that the No Child Left Behind Act, President George W
Bush's education plan, has led to a national high school
dropout rate of a million kids a year. Kerry instead
proposes fewer students in each class in high school,
mentors for middle school students, better salaries for
teachers, and heavy investment in a National Education
Trust Fund in order actually to find the money for
Bush's plan. Before leaving for California, Kerry said,
"The most critical issue now is putting America back to
work." Bush, meanwhile, was flipping pancakes in the
middle of Ohio, trying to convince a bleak army of
blue-collar voters in a crucial industrial swing state
that he can deliver better news for the ailing
manufacturing sector for the next four years.
And then it was back to muckracking. The Bush
campaign insists Kerry voted in favor of both the war on
Iraq and the No Child Left Behind Act. Kerry added:
"These guys have spent 70 million bucks to, quote,
destroy me. That was their goal. They haven't done it."
Viva Bush Albuquerque is a sister city
with Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. They're both
close to the desert, but as a tribute to US democracy,
any talk of elections in the Central Asian gas republic
implies a death sentence, courtesy of the Turkmenbashi,
supreme ruler for life. On the other hand, a liter of
gasoline in Turkmenistan costs one-fifth the price of a
bottle of mineral water. Albuquerque - boasting an
inevitable armada of sport-utility vehicles - is alarmed
by the price of gas. A US gallon of regular unleaded is
now US$1.80 (47.6 cents per liter) in New Mexico, a new
state record. It's still peanuts compared with Los
Angeles, for example, where about $2.30 a gallon is the
norm. The Saudis may soon have to come to Bush's rescue
- as the June contract price for a barrel of North Sea
Brent crude has reached almost $36 in New York.
New Mexico illustrates to perfection the
education-and-jobs nightmare afflicting millions of
Americans. Those who succeed in graduating from high
school and getting a degree at the pleasant adobe-filled
University of New Mexico in Albuquerque can only find a
county or school job if they are part of a politically
well-connected family. The other option is to do
technical support work at Los Alamos, the largest
weapons-of-mass-destruction lab in the United States.
The bottom of the scale - for those who at least
finished high school - is to join the military and be
deployed in Iraq, as this correspondent found out in the
Sunni triangle. But northern New Mexico right now is
strongly anti-war - and this includes even employees of
Los Alamos.
New Mexico will be a crucial swing
state come November, along with Ohio, Michigan and
Florida. At the Flying Star Cafe in Albuquerque -
southwest chic, excellent newsstand, great huevos
rancheros - the feeling is New Mexico may be one of two
or three states actually to decide the election. In
2000, Bush lost to Al Gore in New Mexico by only 366
votes.
The New Mexico headquarters of Bush's
campaign - staffed with six people since March 18 - is a
supreme model of organization. One of the maps on the
walls is a labyrinth of color-coded pins where pro-Bush
sentiment is carefully recorded. Kerry still has no HQ
and no staff. In all key states with a heavy Hispanic
vote - Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Florida - Bush
has HQs, has a full working team, and has run a barrage
of television ads in Spanish. The Kerry campaign has
done nothing - yet. The problem is obvious: lack of
money. Kerry's HQs in these states will open only in
late May. He will eventually launch his own TV ads in
Spanish. But Armando Gutierrez, a political consultant
in Albuquerque who produced TV ads in Spanish for both
Bill Clinton and Gore is very worried: "He will have to
be heavily sold as John Kerry. If people don't have a
clear reason to vote for him, they'd rather stay home."
By contrast, only one day before the whirlwind
Kerry visit, the "Viva Bush" campaign was alive and
kicking in the pleasant, low-key, fake-adobe low-rises
of downtown Albuquerque. "Viva Bush" is rapidly
spreading this week to Arizona, Nevada and California.
Bush has actively courted the Hispanic vote since he was
governor of Texas. His mangled Spanish is very effective
- occasionally more so than his English. Both his doctor
and his lawyer are Hispanics. To have any chance of
winning the Hispanic vote, Kerry will have to convince
people like former US treasurer Rosario Marin from
California: "He doesn't know us," she says, before
launching on an autograph binge of $1 bills. "Viva Bush"
events are materializing as pretty informal affairs: in
Albuquerque, the speeches were followed by a mariachi
band playing ultra-corny tunes.
Enter 'the
gutsy gov' New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson
may become one of the key deciders of the 2004 election.
He is the only Hispanic governor in the United States.
He is also on record saying his political action group,
Moving America Forward, will support Kerry among
Hispanic voters everywhere, but especially in several
key Western and mountain states. Richardson will chair
the Democratic National Convention in July, in Boston.
Widely tipped to be chosen as Kerry's running mate, he
has repeatedly dismissed those rumors, saying he is
concentrated on finishing his term as governor.
Richardson has plenty of assets: a former energy
secretary under Clinton, ambassador to the UN, proven
international experience. New Mexicans are happy with
their progressive governor. He cut income taxes;
attracted investment to New Mexico; spent heavily on
public schools; is an impassioned defender of the
environment; and is working to give New Mexico a leading
role in alternative energy production. The New Mexico
Wilderness Alliance calls him "the gutsy gov" because of
his opposition to plans by Yates Petroleum, HEYCO and
Burlington - all of them major Bush donors - to drill
one of America's wildest grasslands, Otero Mesa.
Richardson seems to have aligned himself with national
conservation instead of oil development. According to a
recent poll by the Albuquerque Journal among New Mexico
Democrats, Richardson scores 78 percent on popularity,
against 55 percent for Kerry and 44 percent for Bush.
The US population is about 12.5 percent Hispanic
(in New Mexico it's a staggering 42 percent). The
majority of the Hispanic vote - currently only 7 percent
of the US total - is historically Democrat. In 2000, 61
percent voted for Gore and 38 percent for Bush,
according to a Los Angeles Times poll. For 2004, Bush
strategists are aiming for 40 percent of the Hispanic
vote. It's not far-fetched, and Democrats know it:
Republican Arnold "Gubernator" Schwarzenegger is
extremely popular among California Hispanic voters.
Charming-as-a-gas-pump Kerry could do worse than start
practicing his "hasta la vista, baby" routines.
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Kerry, the Yankee
muchacho
