"It just wasn't my time," Anaya told me. Anaya came in fourth place at the March 13 Democratic pre-primary convention. He got about 17 percent of the vote, missing the cut-off mark of 20 percent.
Anaya said he'd be backing former Land Commissioner Ray Powell in the primary. Powell, who won 44 percent of the delegates at the pre-primary, faces another Santa Fe County commissioner, Harry Montoya as well as Public Regulation Commissioner Sandy Jones in the Democratic primary. Both Montoya and Jones missed the 20-percent threshold at the pre-primary, but both filed petitions today get on the ballot.
Damron said his single-digit showing at the GOP pre-primary convention was enough to convince him to drop his race.
In 2006 Damron was the only Republican candidate in the gubernatorial primary. But he dropped out and former state GOP Chairman John Dendahl took his place. Dendahl went on to lose against Democrat Bill Richardson in a landslide race.
Damron said he likes all three Republican candidates for lieutenant governor. Those are former state Rep. Brian Moore of Clayton, state Sen. Kent Cravens of Albuquerque and former Rep. John Sanchez, who was the 2002 GOP candidate for governor.
In other races there were few surprises. In the Republican race for governor, Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, public relations company owner Doug Turner and lawyer Pete Domenici, Jr. all filed petitions to get on the ballot. All three are from Albuquerque. They will join Las Cruces District Attorney Susana Martinez and former party chairman Allen Weh, who got enough votes at their pre-primary convention to get on the ballot.
In the Democratic lieutenant governor primary, state Sens. Jerry Ortiz y Pino and Linda Lopez filed petitions. Already on the ballot are former state party chairman Brian Colon, longtime government administrator Lawrence Rael and state Rep. Joe Campos of Santa Rosa.
In the Republican land commissioner primary, Bob Cornelius of Tatum filed petitions Tuesday. He'll be on the ballot against Matthew Rush, the only candidate who got more than 20 percent of the GOP pre-primary delegates.
Meanwhile, Jim Jackson, even though he already have enough signatures to get on the ballot, told me he decided not to pursue the nomination. He blamed it on finances. The other GOP candidate Spiro Vassiloplos didn't submit petitions today.
UPDATE: I also should mention that Adam Kokesh of Santa Fe submitted petition signatures to get on the Republican primary ballot in the 3rd Congressional District race. He'll be running against Tom Mullins of Farmington, who got more than 80 percent of the pre-primary convention vote.
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