Edwards, Kucinich, Clark Court N.M. Voters
Originally published in the Albuquerque Journal
January 31, 2004
Edwards, Kucinich, Clark Court N.M. Voters
By Susan Montoya Bryan
The Associated Press
The rush for votes is on in New Mexico among the crowded field of Democratic presidential hopefuls who are barnstorming through the state during the last weekend of campaigning before Tuesday's caucus.
John Edwards emphasized his plan to narrow the gap between the country's haves and the have-nots during a Saturday stop in Albuquerque while Dennis Kucinich hammered away at his longtime opposition to the war in Iraq at an event across town.
In Mesilla, former Gen. Wesley Clark continued to promote himself as the Democrat who could beat President Bush and get the United States out of Iraq.
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry planned a visit Sunday to watch the Super Bowl followed by a Monday rally. Kucinich had scheduled stops around the state Sunday.
During a news conference Saturday, Kucinich called on all American to seek the truth behind the circumstances that led the country to war against Iraq.
"This a moment when our morality as a nation is on the line," he said. "It's really a question of who we are."
Kucinich also said, as president, he would do away with the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal and shut down any government laboratories specializing in weapons design. That message is of particular interest to New Mexico, home to Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.
As for the labs' scientists and employees, he said their "technological genius" would be used elsewhere within the government for more peaceful pursuits.
At a community center in one of the city's oldest Hispanic neighborhoods, John Edwards told supporters he wants to keep the "ugly faces of discrimination and segregation" he experienced growing up in the South from eating away at America.
"We want our children and grandchildren to be the first generations to grow up in an America that's no longer divided by race," the North Carolina senator said.
As in his television and radio commercials, Edwards told the audience of about 350 people about his plan to bring the country together with one health care system, one education system and a single tax system that wouldn't discriminate between the rich and the poor.
"The truth is that we live in a country where there are really still two different Americas — one for all the families who get whatever they need whenever they want it, and then one for everybody else," he said. "It doesn't have to be that way."
Gov. Bill Richardson, who has made appearances at other candidate events, was on hand to help introduce Edwards, saying his momentum here was strong. Richardson, who will serve as the party's national convention chairman, has said he will not endorse any candidate.
During a quick stop in Santa Fe, Kucinich said he has made it a point to have a strong presence in New Mexico over the past 11 months.
"And I expect it'll be represented in the turnout on Tuesday because the issues that I'm working on resonate in New Mexico — peace, health care, education," he said after joining a half-mile march to the Capitol organized by the New Mexico Building and Construction Trades Council.
In Mesilla, about 250 people turned out at the town's plaza to hear from Clark.
"I know how to bring allies together. I know how to run a peacekeeping operation," he said. "I know how to get our troops home and I will do that. I promise you I will never get us into a mess like Iraq again."
The retired four-star general used the visit to southern New Mexico to talk about his plan to create more jobs, raise the minimum wage and push a tax system that would shift the burden to people who make more than $100,000 a year.
After the rally, Clark said he would support a guest worker program for undocumented immigrants.
"We need a way people can earn citizenship when they're working here," he said.
Many in the Mesilla crowd said electability was the most important issue for them and that they were trying to decide between Clark and front runner John Kerry.
"My first choice was John Kerry because he's done a lot for veterans. I was against the Vietnam War too," said Robert Rodriguez, an army veteran from Las Cruces. "I like about Clark that he's not an insider and if anybody is patriotic, it's him."
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