Chávez reaches out to progressives through bloggers

Posted 10/31/2007 04:17:00 PM

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., is attempting to reach out to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party through its bloggers.

There are quite a few progressive bloggers in New Mexico, and Chávez had a dialogue with several of them on a conference call on Tuesday evening that he said he hoped was “part of an ongoing conversation.”

Chávez isn’t well liked, to put it mildly, by many progressives, who recently worked with Republicans to defeat candidates and referenda backed by Chávez, or at least some of his top staffers, in the Albuquerque municipal election. In a recent interview with me, Chávez said he gets “a bad rap” from progressives that isn’t deserved, and cited his work on combating climate change and other issues he says should earn him the support of progressives.

In the same conversation, however, Chávez said he wasn’t afraid of the possibility that U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, a favorite among progressive Democrats, might enter the race, saying Udall is “so far to the left.”

That comment was one of the points Chávez was asked about during Tuesday’s call. It upset many progressives as it circulated on state and national blogs last week.

“I was asked it in a specific context and I gave it in a specific context,” Chávez said. “… I run a city and he’s a congressman so I think (the difference) is more in the nature of the jobs we have.”

Chávez also called Udall a friend and a “great congressman.”

“If you look issue by issue I doubt you’ll find much difference,” he said. “You will find that we will vote together almost all the time.”

There was clearly some awkwardness about the conversation, but the bloggers also sounded genuinely happy to have such access to Chávez. Since he’s currently the only big-name Democrat in the Senate race, progressives have no choice but to give Chávez a serious look. And he needs them to vote for him, if not in the primary, at least if he’s going to have any chance at winning a general election against U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce or Heather Wilson.

Chávez was asked a number of other questions, many of them related to growth in the Albuquerque area. He defended his moderate, pro-growth views but turned the conversation back, at the end, to progressives’ most talked-about issues – ending the war, reforming the health-care system and working to combat climate change and increase use of alternative energy sources.

“I think most people will agree that I tend to get done what I say I will get done,” Chávez said. “… When I tell you I’m going to go up there and work to end this war, you can take that to the bank.”