I’m also going to work with Matt from NMFBIHOP and Barb from Democracy for New Mexico to interview the freshman members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation (Reps. Ben Ray Lujan, Martin Heinrich, and Harry Teague) in the coming week.

Regardless of that possible coverage, I will be taking my camera to the Inaugural Gala (which is to be held at the beautiful Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian). So, I hope to snap a bunch of photos of New Mexican politicos and other friendly faces as we celebrate the inauguration of President-Elect Barack  Obama.

With Democrats expanding their majorities in the House and Senate during the 2008 congressional elections, members of both parties sought to redefine the leadership structure within their respective caucuses. Some of the shuffling was predictable, while political calculation entered into consideration into other leadership campaigns. In addition, freshman members of the House and Senate were forced to take sides in their first actions in Congress, even though they have not been taken office.

H/T to John for the post title.

1. Register to vote! This mess is the result of a bunch of bad decisions by a bunch of people, and voting better people into office is a great way of remedying the situation. There’s a widget on the right hand side of this blog where you can go, or visit this link to register through Rock the Vote. You only have a few days left.
2. Donate to candidates. I know it’s tough right now, especially with the economy in the state it’s in. However, it’s probably the best investment you can make with your money. Vote more and better Democrats into Congress (people like Martin Heinrich or Harry Teague) and they’ll work to fix some of the inequality that has impacted families across the state and country. Check out the True Blue New Mexico page on Act Blue and send some coin to some worthy candidates.
3. Volunteer. Knock on some doors or make some phone calls on behalf of Barack Obama. My understanding is that they’re coordinating a lot of the get-out-the-vote effort, and this will be crucial in swinging New Mexico for the Democrats in the 2nd Congressional District and for the presidential race.
4. Tell your friends. Send them a link to this post. Ask them to register. See if they’ll volunteer with you.

Or, you can do nothing – you can sit back and watch what happens. If you think the country is doing great and you’re happy with your health care options and you think America is safer than in 2000 and you’re not worried about your retirement, then I guess you don’t have that much at stake in this election. Otherwise, I hope you’ll help out. You owe it to yourself.

Morning updates are hot and fresh, 6 days a week!

Also, if you’re not reading Matt’s work at NMFBIHOP or at the New Mexico Independent, you should be, and tune into his weekly podcast every Tuesday night as well!

The wrap up was so long we decided to split it into three sections:

1. New England (Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vemont)
2. Mid-Atlantic (Washington D.C. and New York)
3. Midwestern (Minnesota and Wisconsin)

The three pieces probably don’t have everything you would ever want to know about the candidates in each state, but there’s still a wealth of information there if you’re interested. Of course, you most of this information was pulled from the profiles built by Congresspedia’s citizen-journalists, all part of our Wiki the Vote project.

Over at Congresspedia, we’re starting to track the members of Congress who are using Twitter. We’ve compiled a list of 29 members thus far, and we’re always on the look out for others. One neat trick we’re offering: for those members who are using Twitter, you can read their latest posts right on the Congressedia profile.

Rep. Tom Udall was one of the first to adopt the service, and his campaign has been quick to embrace blogging and other aspects of the Web as well. You can see his Congresspedia profile here, complete with his most recent “tweets” from Twitter.

If you know of any other members of Congress using Twitter (or congressional candidates for that matter) please let us know!

It must be August: Congress is no longer in session and the congressional primary season is again heating up. According to our calendar, there are primary elections every week from now until mid-September. Candidates in three states – Kansas, Michigan and Missouri – are on the ballot tomorrow.

As part of our Wiki the Vote project, our citizen-editors have been tallying all the races and building profiles of many of the candidates. We’ll have more on the winners Wednesday, but for now here are some of the more interesting races to watch:

You can find the rest here. If you know something about an interesting congressional race, I’d urge you to head over to Congresspedia and add the information there. You can always ask us for help, and I promise we’ll value your contribution.

It’s entirely possible I gave preferential treatment to Missouri and covered those races first, though I won’t confirm or deny why.

As always, the “Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere” idea is courtesy of John Fleck.

3:13 Annette Taddeo says that her opponent’s opposition to SCHIP was the biggest reason for getting into the race.

3:17 Dan Seals: I want to see Democrats not blow it – we failed in 1994 because we didn’t elect a movement. Democrats should redouble their efforts.

3:19 Jill Derby says party and infrastructure building has been an incredible boon in Nevada. “Nevada is a new and different state,” she continues: In my dirstrict, the Republican registration advantage has shrunk 40% since I last ran in 2006.

3:23 Jim Himes is running in Connecticut’s 4th district, what he describes as one of the country’s most diverse district. He says moderates are sometimes enablers, and that Republican Rep. Chris Shays has broken with his party on issues where Congress doesn’t have much sway.

(More liveblogging and questions from the audience after the break)

3:26 Himes: I watched as all of the things that make up the concept of the “American Dream” were eroded as a matter of public policy under the Bush presidency.

3:30 Derby says the difference in Nevada between 2006 and 2008 is “night and day” in regard to excitement and participation, and the presidential election is a major reason. “2006 was an election with a mandate for change, and not much change happened.”

3:37 Questions from the audience: how has Obama’s field operation (asking volunteers to head to swing states) and his fundraising affecting your campaign? Derby: the amount of energy Sen. Obama is bringing is helpful. The number of people they have energized and brought into the office is going to serve us well. It;s a challenging time in fundraising in general because the economy is bad. There’s a commitment from people that we can do it this time and we must do it this time.

3:40 Seals: we’re still seeing that the money is still there. People also see the opportunity here, and the need, to reverse course. People are being very forthcoming because the need is so great. Taddeo: for Obama to win Florida, he has to win South Florida (my district). I’m very happy to have him on the ticket, because he’s bringing out the youth vote, and the black vote. That’s something we’ve never seen. I’m a non-Cuban Hispanic who’s Jewish. I think I help him by being on the ticket by speaking about Democrats, and speaking on Spanish radio on almost a daily basis.

3:45 Question from audience: is better fundraising this cycle the result of more excited Democrats or from Republicans and Independents flirting with the Democratic party? Himes: The urgency from 2006 brought Democrats out, but I’ve dialed up people who have traditionally given to Republicans, and some of them tell me their just so fed up with the Republicans in Congress.

3:50 Question from audience: will you make a pledge to undo the damage done to the Constitution when elected? Seals: it should not be OK for phone companies or anyone else to eavesdrop on someone without a warrant. Himes: yes, we had a FISA system that was functioning just fine. We never needed to get here. On the question of immunity – there’s a place where we resolve questions of facts and law – and that’s always where this should have been resolved. Derby: so disappointed we caved and voted for it. Taddeo: extremely disappointed in the lack of leadership.

3:55 John Wonderlich: how can online communities help you remain strong Democrats when you’re elected and the leadership PACs and the Blue Dog caucus approach you? Himes: Educate and advocate – I’m glad to call myself a progressive, but I promise you I’m going to do things in Congress that are going to irritate members of the progressive community. We have to be informed and we have to be accountable. Derby: I can only say we’ll need you. As we start to work our way out of this hole, we’re going to need some popular support not to lose a lot of ground in the next election.

4:00 Question from audience: what’s you’re stand on health care – are you an incrementalist? Seals: I am, if you have health insurance and you like it you should keep it. We should also make it portable. Himes: if you’re creating out of scratch a health-care system, yes, you’d make a single-payer system. I’m a supporter of hybrid models that might actually turn out pushing us toward single-payer. As a businessman, I’m not comfortable saying we should take 17-percent of our economy and revolutionizing it overnight. Derby: I think there’s an appetite for incremental change. People should get to have choice. Taddeo: I’m also an incrementalist.

4:02 Second question from audience was on LGBT.  in November we’ll have a vote coming up that would change our constitution in Florida, to define marriage as between a man and woman. It’s a huge mistake and I’m totally against it. All Americans should have the opportunities that I have. Seals: the Constitution can not be applied selectively. Derby: I’m happy to allow the states to make their own rulings on it. I support civil unions. Himes: I’m a civil libertarian , if we’re going to have marriage, and it’s going to be something to which we apply rights and laws, then we can’t discriminate.

4:04 All four candidates say they would work to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

4:06 The moderator, asks whether subpoenas should have teeth in regards to congressional hearing. Seals and Derby both railing against Congress for caving on signing statements and executive privelge. Himes: if we don’t dissect what happened, and we don’t take testimony, how we let our administration run amuck, we’ll do it again.

4:08 What about Iraq? Taddeo: there’s some shame that we let it happen, and that we’re letting things like torture happen. And by going into Iraq, we’ve been ignoring where the real terrorists are. Derby: I’ve signed on to the Responsible Plan to end the War in Iraq. Himes: it should be an article of faith that when our young men and women are in armed conflict, they should be first and foremost in our minds. The Bush administration learned the lessons of the Vietnam War and they’re keeping it out of the public’s mind. In addition to the horrible human costs that our soldiers are paying, we’re passing along the costs of the war to our children. Seals: there’s no end in sight, and there’s some frustration by people that we can’t get out.

4:13 Question from audience: can you tell us about the ways your opponents are pretending to be Democrats? Himes: Chris Shays who cultivates that kind of brand. in 2006 he told voters he supports a timeline for withdrawal, and then voted 3, 4, 5 times against a timeline. Taddeo: my opponent like to send out mail with her picture of Nancy Pelosi. She talks about the vote to authorize SCHIP, but not the vote to expand it. Derby: my opponent isn’t pretending to be a Democrat, it’s refreshing. Seals: my opponent has portrayed himself as a moderate, and now he’s moving to the right. Here’s the video Seals just talked about.

The netroots is playing a big role in elections this year, and I give some serious props to Matt and Barb for stepping up and getting this effort going. I think it’s a testament to their hard work, and a recognition of the role they’re playing, that each of the New Mexican candidates are posting guest blogs this week (you can see Heinrich’s posts here and here).

Matt has a great post introducing the project, highlighting the unique situation in New Mexico this cycle:

In 2008, New Mexicans have a chance for a true change — a golden opportunity to make a True Blue New Mexico.  There are more Democrats than Republicans registered in the state, and Democrats control both the state Senate and House.  Yet in federal offices, Republicans hold a 3-2 advantage, including a 2-1 advantage in the House. This year, that can change — and change dramatically.

I couldn’t agree more. I’ve thought that some additional attention in southern New Mexico from groups like the DCCC could help push the district closer toward the “Democratic” column, and with the right candidate Rep. Steve Pearce might have had a fight on his hands. With changing demographics, who knows what would have happened?

But with Pearce facing what could charitably be called an uphill battle with Udall, there’s no incumbent and a wave of anti-Republicanism sweeping the country. The Third congressional district is safe, and I think Martin Heinrich will have a solid advantage over Darren White. The second district would be tough regardless, but Teague can self-finance to a certain degree and that will help.

There’s some signs that New Mexico is trending more Democratic, and all of these candidates should have a great surrogate in Gov. Bill Richardson. But they need some help, and the best way to help is to donate early. Every dollar donated now is worth twice as much as money given later – early money will help the campaigns canvas voters, place ad buys sooner rather than later, and build their operations.

So, head on over to the ActBlue page and give some money, and help turn New Mexico blue this November.

The Associated Press called the race at 2 a.m., though the Secretary of State’s Web site still only lists results for 31 of 33 counties on its Web site. According to KOB’s Web site, with 99% of precincts reporting, Pearce won by more than 3,000 (which, for New Mexico, seems like a huge margin).

November is still a long ways off, and a lot of things can change, but as LP indicated recently, polling puts Udall far in front of Pearce. The former oilman (like Obama) will probably get a bump for securing his party’s nomination in the coming weeks, but Pearce has a huge lead to overcome to make November competitive.

And as an aside, I just want to echo a comment LP made earlier tonight: Ron Paul netted more than 15,000 votes in the primary against Sen. John McCain. That’s 14-percent of the vote: wow.