Scandals - A Factor?

Gary King
From the Santa Fe New Mexican - When Jim Bibb and Gary King ran for attorney general four years ago, one of the campaign's main themes was corruption. This year, in the race between King, the Democratic incumbent, and Clovis Republican Matt Chandler, the main theme is ... corruption. Chandler says King has done little to stem a tide of wrongdoing in the state during his term. King says he's done more than perhaps any other attorney general. In 2006, the race to become New Mexico's top law enforcer took place against the backdrop of the misdeeds of former state treasurer Michael Montoya.
Matt Chandler
This year's race, which will be decided in the Nov. 2 general election, comes amid other scandals, including controversies involving state investments, in which questions were raised about fees paid and loans provided by figures with political connections, and at the Secretary of State's Office, where former employees have alleged wrongdoing. Observers say the corruption issue dominates partly because that topic is a big component of this year's gubernatorial race. "When you get to those downballot races, if there's not a lot of information, you vote your party," University of New Mexico political science professor Lonna Atkeson said. "The Republicans are trying to resonate with a single message, and they are hoping for spillover from the top of the ticket." Read more here:

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Van Hollen - Let's Play "Tax Policy Poker"

Chris Van Hollen (D- MD.)
U.S. House Democrat Chris Van Hollen said he would consider extending Bush-era tax cuts for wealthier Americans for a year if Republicans would agree to make the reductions permanent for “middle class” taxpayers. Republicans, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, have insisted that the tax cuts should be extended for all Americans for two years. Taxes are expected to dominate the agenda when Congress returns next week. “If they were to come back and say, ‘hey, let’s just do one year for the top 2 percent, and permanent for the middle class,’ that would be something that obviously people would have to think about,” Van Hollen said in an interview on “Political Capital with Al Hunt” airing this weekend on Bloomberg Television. He said he was speaking “individually” and not on behalf of Democratic leaders. Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, predicted his party “will hold onto a majority in the House” even in the face of polling that shows Republicans are poised to retake control. Read more here:
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Kudlow - Blame Boehner and Bush

Larry Kudlow
Under pressure from a barrage of bad midterm-election polls, President Obama has gone on the campaign trail to blame Pres. George W. Bush for all our economic problems and to bash House Republican leader John Boehner as nothing more than a Bush retread. In Friday's dreary news conference, Obama acknowledged that economic progress is "painfully slow" and that voters may blame him for the economy. Yet he nonetheless continued to finger Bush "for policies that cut taxes, especially for millionaires and billionaires, cut regulations for corporations and for special interests, and left everyone else pretty much fending for themselves." "Millionaires and billionaires" has become Obama's favorite phrase as he calls for tax hikes on the wealthy and renews his attacks on Bush. In Cleveland last week, Obama actually blamed the Bush tax cuts for the financial meltdown and severe recession. Now that's a reach. A big reach. While Bush made plenty of economic mistakes, his 2003 reductions of marginal tax rates led to more than 8 million new jobs in the next four and a half years. Under Bush, the unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 percent. Read more here:
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Calderon Passes the Peso

Pesident Felipe Calderon
From the El Paso Times - MEXICO CITY—President Mauricio Funes of El Salvador said Friday he doesn't blame Mexico's government for the massacre of 72 mainly Central American migrants, and called for a joint effort to fight drug cartels. Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Funes said after their meeting that the two countries have formed a high-level working group to develop joint strategies for combatting the drug gangs. "We have come to have a conversation with the president of Mexico, not to condemn him or criticize him," Funes said. "Rather the opposite, to show him our support and offer our help in this fight." Thirteen Salvadorans were among the dead identified so far in the massacre in late August, a killing blamed on one of Mexico's drug cartels, the Zetas. In a separate interview Friday, Calderon said the migrant massacre doesn't undermine Mexico's moral authority to demand better treatment for its own migrants. "Of course we have the moral authority, because Mexican officials are not shooting Central American youths at the border, but U.S. agents are shooting Mexican migrants," Calderon said in an interview with the Spanish-language Univision network. "If we are talking about responsibility, at the root of this, in the case of immigration, is the lack of immigration legislation in the United States that would recognize this phenomenon," Calderon said. Read more here:
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167 Females Murdered in Juarez this Year

From the El Paso Times - Three women's bodies were dumped in Juárez on Sept. 6 in areas of great importance in Mexican history. Claudia Leticia Estrada, 34, was left at a street crossing in the Colonia de Independencia. Claudia E. Tiscareño Hernandez, 22, and an unidentified woman, 20 to 25 years old, were found near 15 de Septiembre and Monte de las Cruces in the Colonia Miguel Allende. All three were killed by gunfire. Then their bodies were tossed in places with names associated with Mexico's War of Independence from Spain. Mexico will observe its independence on Wednesday. The three victims brought to 1,000 the number of girls and women killed in Juárez since 1993. "Between January and August of this year, there were 167 murders of women," said Julia Monarrez, a professor at Colegio de la Frontera Norte-Juárez. The other 2,000 homicide victims this year in Juárez were men. Read more here:
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Aggies Drop Season Opener 41-21 To San Diego State

bleedCrimson.net Report

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- The Aggie football team dropped their 2010 season opener 41-21 to San Diego State in front of 16,891 fans on Saturday night in Aggie Memorial Stadium.

The Aggies debuted a brand new offense and the Aggies marched down the field on their opening drive as junior college transfer Matt Christian completed his first pass, a 27 yard completion to Marcus Allen on second and seven giving the Aggies a first down at the 50 yard line. Christian would complete a 20 yard pass to Todd Lee on third and 11 that gave the Aggies a first down at the San Diego State 26. The Aggie drive would stall and junior college transfer Tyler Stampler missed a 37 yard field goal.

The Aztecs would take over on their own 20 and after converting a third and 2 at their own 28 the Aztecs would go for it on fourth and one at the 40. Aggie linebacker Boyblue Aoelua met Davon Brown head on at the line of scrimmage for no gain and giving the Aggies the ball and plenty of momentum.

With momentum and the ball on the SDSU 42, Matt Christian completed a pass to Darrius Preston for 22 yards down to the SDSU 2. Two plays later Christian would pitch the ball to Kenny Turner who turned the corner and raced 18 yards down the right sideline diving in for the first touchdown of his Aggie career and the first touchdown of the 2010 season. Stampler would tack on the extra point giving the Aggies a 7-0 lead.

The Aggie defense would carry that momentum and force SDSU into a three and out and the Aggie offense got the ball back on th e16 yard line. The Aggies would drive down to the Aztec 35 yard line but the drive stalled and the Aggies were unable to convert a 4th and 2 giving the Aztecs the ball.

SDSU would capitalize and on their first play from scrimmage, Ryan Lindley hit Vincent Brown for a 55-yard completion down to the Aggie 10 yard line. The Aggies' red-zone defense would allow just two yards and the Aztecs would be forced to try a 25 yard field goal. SDSU kicker Abel Perez would knock the attempt through cutting the Aggies' lead to 7-3.

SDSU would receive the ball on the Aggie 45 after a 33 yard punt by Tanner Rust. The Aztecs would have a first and 10 at the Aggies' 17 yard line but the Aggie red-zone defense would stiffen forcing the Aztecs to try a 32 yard field goal. Abel Perez would hit the field goal to cut the Aggies' lead to 7-6.

The next Aggie possession ended in a three and out and the Aggies punted the ball back to the Aztecs who would take over on their own 49. SDSU would drive once again getting the ball down to the Aggies' 15 yard line but again the Aggie defense would stiffen and the Aztecs would miss a 37-yard field goal keeping the game at 7-6.

The Aggie offense would once again go three and out and the Aztecs would take over on their own 41 after a 42 yard punt by Tanner Rust. Ronnie Hillman would get the Aztecs to the Aggie 48 with an 11 yard run and on 2nd and 9 Ryan Lindley would complete a 19 yard pass to Gavin Escobar putting the Aztecs on the Aggies' 19. six plays later Lindley would convert on 3rd and 9 from the Aggie 14 completing another pass to Gavin Escobar finding him in the endzone for a touchdown. The extra point put the Aztecs up 13-7.

After an Aggie three and out, the Aztecs would drive down to the Aggie 13 yard line and with just seconds remaining in the half appeared as though SDSU had scored a touchdown, however, offensive pass interference was called on Demarco Sampson and the Aztecs' touchdown was wiped off the board. With the ball now on the Aggies' 28 yard line, SDSU would attempt a 45 yard field goal but Perez would miss his second field goal of the half and the Aggies would take a knee and consider themselves fortunate to go into halftime down just 13-7.

SDSU would get the ball to start the second half and marched down the field for a touchdown on four plays as Ronnie HIllman broke a 44-yard touchdown run to put the Aztecs up 20-7.

The Aggie defense would hold after a three and out by the Aggie offense as SDSU would go for it on 4th and 1 at the Aggie 42. The Aggie offense would capitalize as they had done in the first half as Matt Christian found Marcus Allen for a 58 yard touchdown strike cutting the SDSU lead to 20-14.

However, the Aggie defense would be unable to stop SDSU as the Aztecs would start on their own 41 after the kickoff thanks to an illegal block was called on the Aggies on the kickoff. The SDSU ground game would go to work and behind three rushes from Walter Kazee put SDSU on the Aggies' 26 yard line, Ronnie Hillman finished off the final 26 yards with runs of 22 and four yards putting the Aztecs back up by 13 at 27-14.

The Aggies' next drive would start at their own 20 and would end at the SDSU 33 yard line after eight plays. The two teams would trade punts on the next three possessions and with 12:38 left in the game, the Aggies would get the ball at their own 40. Two 15-yard penalties would aid the Aggie drive as they found themselves on the SDSU 16 yard line with a 1st and 10. Matt Christian would find Todd Lee for the touchdown score and the Aggies would get right back in the game at 27-21.

SDSU once again answered the Aggies' touchdown with a six play, 81 yard drive that ended in a touchdown score to go up 34-21 with 8:46 remaining in the game.

The Aggies would be forced to punt on their next possession. On the next Aztec possession, the Aggie defense would force a punt, however, Donyae Coleman would fumble the return at the Aggie eight yard line. SDSU's Nat Berhe would recover the ball at the Aggie 13. Three Ronnie Hillman rushes later, the Aztecs would find the endzone for the final time going ahead 41-21 with 4:21 left to play.

The Aggies would punt on their next possession and SDSU would get the ball back at their own four yard line with 1:50 left to play. After a 44 yard scamper by Davon Brown put the ball at the Aggies' 49, SDSU would take a knee to run out the clock.

The Aggies were outgained on offense 563 to 328 and the Aggies' backfield duo of Seth Smith and Kenny Turner was limited to 45 yards on 15 carries with 43 of the yards belonging to Turner. Matt Christian finished the game 17-of-34 through the air for 224 yards, two passing touchdowns and no interceptions. He also rushed for 35 yards on nine carries.

Marcus Allen led the Aggies with four catches for 114 yards and a touchdown and Todd Lee hauled in the other touchdown pass and finished with four catches for 40 yards. Kyle Nelson caught five balls for 28 yards.

San Diego State's Ryan Lindley finished 20-for-42 for 319 yards and one touchdown pass. Ronnie Hillman rushed for 150 yards on 22 carries and scored all four of the Aztecs' rushing touchdowns. Walter Kazee finished with 10 rushes for 52 yards as the Aztecs rushed for 244 yards as a team.

Vincent Brown caught five balls for 99 yards, Demarco Sampson had four for 73 yards, Brandon Sullivan caught three for 69 yards and Gavin Escobar caught two passes for 33 yards, both on the same drive and one for the Aztecs' lone passing touchdown.

Boyblue Aoelua finished with 16 tackles to lead all defenders. Alphonso Powell added 14 tackles. Miles Burris and Jerome Long each finished with eight tackles for SDSU. SDSU finished with one sack and neither team had an interception.

The Aggies return to action next Saturday as they take on I-10 rival UTEP at 7:00 p.m. at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX.


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