Battleground

We only have a mere 5 electoral votes, but emotions are running very high here in New Mexico. All kinds of politicians and celebrities have been flocking to our state. Some basic facts about New Mexico:

New Mexico has a statewide population of 1.4 million people, and 1/3 of them live in Albuquerque.
Albuquerque ranks 2nd after Miami, Florida in terms of presidential campaign ad dollars being spent.
Based on election day predictions, after votes are counted in the Eastern and Central time zones and electoral votes collected, New Mexico may be in a position to deliver the presidency to either candidate.

All sorts of celebrities have been invading New Mexico. A short list of celebrities include John Kerry (several times), actor John Cusack, filmmaker Michael Moore, activist Gloria Steinem, actor Ted Danson, Chris Heinz (Teresa Heinz Kerry's son). Two such persons came to New Mexico, not for political purposes, and yet the timing of their visit was rather interesting and coincidential. These two persons were Crown Prince Felipe and his new wife Crown Princess Letitica of Spain.

To illustrate an example of emotions running high here in New Mexico, 2 Deaf women and their interpreter friend went over to John Kerry campaign headquarters in Albuquerque to pick up signs saying "Americans with Disabilities for Kerry-Edwards" with some fingerspelled letters on the sign. When they left the building and walked down the street, they waved the signs. One man walked by and told the interpreter, "Kerry is a socialist, he is a communist." The interpreter replied, No, he is not a socialist, he is not a communist. He is John Kerry!" To which this guy said, "F--K HIM!" and walked by. Several bystanders who witnessed this exchange came up to these 2 deaf women and the interpreter to discuss what just happened, and they shook their heads in disbelief.

Another incident that left a lot of sore feelings was attending Kerry rallies and Bush rallies. For Kerry rallies, the Deaf people simply called his headquarters and requested interpreters which was always granted. For Bush rallies, you had to first sign an oath of loyalty before you were even allowed in his rallies! Many Deaf people backed away from Bush rallies. To sign an oath of loyalty is OUTRAGEOUS and it reeks of a Nazi party tactic! Whatever happened to democracy??