The Mileage Race: McCamley v. Teague

In the heated race for the Democratic nomination in New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District, upstart Bill McCamley, a Dona Ana County Commissioner, has tagged himself as the 'roll-up-my-sleeves candidate', who is on the ground talking directly to voters about their most pressing concerns. McCamley has wasted no opportunities trying to paint his opponent, former Lea County Commisioner Harry Teague, as an out-of-touch oil executive, with little conception of the plight of the common man.

Putting aside the fact that Teague didn't have electricity in his home until moving to Hobbs at age 9 and dropping out of high school to work for less than $2/hour to provide his ailing father with health care, let's take a look at a different, yet perhaps equally accurate, gauge of the elder candidate's grassroots prowess: the old odometer.

During the last few months, McCamley and Teague have cocooned the state in mileage, visiting locations in all corners of the Second District. Recently, McCamley held a fundraiser at which he announced he'd contributed $47.50 to his own campaign to fill the gas tank of his pick-up truck, an obvious mock of Teague's personal contribution of $475,000 to his well-financed campaign just the day before. However, what the younger candidate didn't mention was that the race for miles is much closer than he would have voters believe.

In fact, sources close to this blog with ties to the Teague campaign report that, over the last month, the former Lea County Commissioner has put more miles on his pick-up in an effort to speak directly with voters than his Dona Ana counterpart has over the entire campaign. Now, if that doesn't speak to, and largely invalidate, McCamley's purported hold on the claim to be the working man's candidate of choice, than I don't know what does.

Stay tuned for exact mileage numbers in the days to come, and, as always, thanks for stopping by the New Mexico Progressive, your one-stop shop for progressive political analysis in the Land of Enchantment.