TheFatLadySings' commentary provides some up close and personal - cho; update originally posted 2008-10-01 11:38:31 -1100, bumped

"The last shall be first" just took on a new meaning for me.

Barack Obama held a rally in front of my house in Espanola, New Mexico (pop. 8,700). My community, which is usually ignored, attracts attention for high rates of uninsured (NM is second only to TX), and for leading the nation in overdose deaths. Espanola's citizens go unrecognized for their achievements.

Last Thursday, a crowd bigger than my entire town including upscale neighbors from nearby Santa Fe and Los Alamos Counties, was visible from my roof. I would like to introduce you to some of the people at the rally...friends and vecinos who struggle...friends and vecinos who have changed the way our country thinks about health care and economic justice, though we don't know them.

This is the story of our small community, our struggles, and our one big, wonderful day! (Scroll your cursor over photos).

-originally posted 2008-02-14 16:54:24- bumped. TheFatLadySings calls the New Mexico Secretary of State to find out what gives about the high number of provisional votes!

Voter disenfranchisement is a fact in New Mexico.

Although the Gubenatorial Mansion and both houses of the state legislature are comfortably controlled by Democrats, the systematic disenfranchisement that tossed New Mexico to Bush in 2004 threatens to throw the 2008 presidential election results to the Republicans as well.

Systematic voter disenfranchisement in 2004 occured in two stages. First, Governor Bill Richardson ushered a bill through the legislature establishing a February presidential "caucus" in advance of the traditional late primary. The "caucus" was actually a limited primary run by the Democratic Party rather than the state.

Richardson probably favored the "caucus" as a means of improving his own chances at the presidency by pushing New Mexico to the front of the voting pack.