Friday, February 3, 2012

Sanchez Quitting Senate Race?

Well, that's what Heath and Gwyneth are saying, relying on the word of a "source with knowledge of the situation." (Those are my favorite kind.)

GOP Lt. Gov. Candidate John Sanchez Lending credence to the unnamed source is Sanchez himself, who is quoted saying, "I can tell you as of today I am a candidate for the United States Senate."

Yikes! I guess my mistake was not asking Sanchez to swear he was still in the race, like Gwyneth did.

The weird thing is that I ran into the lieutenant governor the night before last. I was leaving the Capitol and he was heading back.

We just made small talk, not a formal interview. I mentioned that his campaign hadn't been very visible since the session started. He indicated to me that he was tied down at the Roundhouse during the session but he'd be getting back on the campaign trail when the session ends.

Back in 2002, when he was a state representative running for governor, Sanchez was criticized by his Democratic opponent Bill Richardson for missing floor sessions, allegedly because of campaign events. I'd been thinking Sanchez wanted to avoid any repeat of that criticism in his Senate race.