"Economic Choices 2008"- Battleground New Mexico
Wednesday, October 22, 2008SUSIE GHARIB: When it comes to presidential elections, New Mexico is supposed to be a swing state. George Bush won there in 2004. So this year, John McCain had high hopes for it. But new polls show Barack Obama is opening up a lead both in New Mexico and nationwide. Tonight, we continue our "Economic Choices '08" look at battleground states. As Washington bureau chief Darren Gersh explains, the financial crisis is a key reason for those gains.
DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Barelas coffee house is not the kind of place where people usually talk about high finance. The focus here is on friends and food, so the banking crisis has been an unwelcome topic of conversation. Geri Lucero is Barelas' manager and an undecided voter.
GERI LUCERO, MANAGER, BARELAS COFFEE HOUSE: I think that all these powerful minds should have realized what could have happened with all of that. I don't know it, because I'm just a working person. But people that claim to know finances, they should have seen some of this stuff coming, I believe.
GERSH: Outside the coffee house, small business owner Kara Summers is ready to vote for Barack Obama. But like many voters we spoke with, she is not expecting a quick solution for our current economic problems.
KARA SUMMERS, OBAMA SUPPORTER: I don't know that either one of them has great answers, but this is such a mess, I just don't know how we get out.
GERSH: The economics of the financial meltdown and the details of plans to inject capital into banks baffle many of the voters we talked to here in New Mexico. But the political impact is fairly clear. John McCain is being hurt by the financial crisis with western fiscal conservatives and key swing voters. In a western swing state like New Mexico, pollster Brian Sanderoff says many fiscal conservatives are puzzled by McCain's support for a rescue plan, in part, because the financial crisis seems like a Wall Street problem.
BRIAN SANDEROFF, PRESIDENT, RESEARCH AND POLLING INC.: Most westerners think that these are problems that were caused by people on the east coast, quite frankly and they wonder why they, as taxpayers should have to foot the bill.
GERSH: You can hear the frustration in avid stock trader Larren Glover's voice. He'd been a Republican for 30 years, up until a few months ago.
LARREN GLOVER, OBAMA SUPPORTER: I guess in a way it's kind of in defiance. You know, like, come on, the Republican Party has just made a mess of things.
GERSH: But fiscal conservative Paul Sowards, a banker and reluctant supporter of the rescue plan, believes an orderly wind down is better than a fire sale. While John McCain is not his first choice, Sowards thinks McCain is the only choice to rein in the Federal budget.
PAUL SOWARDS, MCCAIN SUPPORTER: There is another way to do this. When my household budget is constrained, we stop spending as much. The Federal government doesn't seem to use that as an option.
GERSH: When we visited New Mexico, early voting was in full swing and Obama's supporters clearly outnumbered McCain's. And of those who are for McCain, like Fred Perez, many are voting pro-life.
FRED PEREZ, MCCAIN SUPPORTER: If we can't get simple things like morality straight, I think the economy won't get well either. So I think that it goes hand in hand.
GERSH: Recent polls confirm this swing state heading strongly towards Obama. Mary Naranjo is a good example. She's angry with what she calls the greed on Wall Street and Main Street.
MARY NARANJO, OBAMA SUPPORTER: I think that this experience that we had might have been for a good reason. People are going to learn to be a little bit more wiser in their selections. They're going to probably not be as materialistic.
GERSH: Many New Mexicans we talked to seemed to feel the same way. It appears the financial crisis is not only shaping the election, but our economic expectations as well. Darren Gersh, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Albuquerque.
GHARIB: Our economic choices coverage continues tomorrow as we head to the battleground state of Virginia.
