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Denish, 61, who was Richardson's running mate in 2002 and 2006, said in a recent interview she wasn't part of Richardson's "inside circle." "We've had what I would consider a business relationship. We're not social friends, really," said Denish, who ran a research and marketing company before becoming lieutenant governor. In New Mexico, lieutenant governors run separately in the primary election and the winner joins the gubernatorial ticket
-- what Denish calls a political "marriage of convenience." To help energize Democrats, Denish didn't ask Richardson for help. She recruited former President Bill Clinton for a campaign rally next week in Espanola, a northern New Mexico community where Hispanics account for more than 70 percent of the voting age population. New Mexico has the largest percentage of Hispanics of any state -- 46 percent
-- and they traditionally favor Democrats. However, the Journal poll showed Martinez doing better than average among Hispanics for a Republican. Democrats hold a 1.6-to-1 advantage in voter registration in New Mexico, but Republicans can win when moderate-to-conservative Democrats abandon the party and independents tilt to the GOP. Polls suggest that's happening this year. Statewide, almost two-thirds of likely voters disapproved of Richardson's job performance late last month, according to an earlier poll by the Journal, and nearly the same said the state was on the wrong track. Democrat Jim McCole of Las Cruces, retired from the Veterans Administration, plans to vote for Denish. He was asked if he believed there was any truth to efforts by the Martinez campaign to link Denish to Richardson's corruption allegations. "Not in real life," he said. "The governor controls everything."
[Associated
Press;
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