NEW MEXICO
Population (1994): 1,654,000 (up 9.1% from 1990), 0.6% of U.S. total
Voting-age population: 1,167,000; 1994 turnout, 39%
Median age: 31.3 years
Median household income: $26,905 ($5,259 below U.S. median)
Unemployment: 6.7% (1.1% above U.S. average, March 1996)
Last presidential election:
Clinton (D): 46% Bush (R): 37% Perot (I): 16%
Congressional delegation: Three Republicans, two Democrats
New Mexico has the fifth-largest land area in the U.S., and its culture is as expansive as its mountains and high plateaus. More than most states, it is a combination of high-profile extremes: trendy settlers are moving to the towns east of Santa Fe, living in the same kind of adobe buildings that housed the Pueblo Indians hundreds of years before Europeans set foot on this continent. Now artists share the land with the scientists at Los Alamos, and there is a larger percentage of Hispanic people there--38%--than in any other state. Politically, the state is a bellwether, having supported the victorious President almost invariably since Woodrow Wilson in 1912.
PETE DOMENICI (R) SENIOR SENATOR
BORN: May 7, 1932, Albuquerque EDUCATION: U of New Mexico, B.S., 1954; U of Denver, LL.B., 1958 FAMILY: Wife, Nancy; eight children RELIGION: Roman Catholic MILITARY: None OCCUPATION: Lawyer POLITICAL CAREER: Albuquerque city commission, 1966-70; Republican nominee for Governor, 1970; U.S. Senate 1972- ADDRESS: P.O. Box 2206, Albuquerque 87103. Tel.: 505-271-2122
Incumbent Domenici, who once pitched for the Albuquerque Dukes, won his past two elections with 72% and 73% of the vote, and is favored to win his sixth term just as handily. In the Senate he has made his name as a deficit hawk, sitting on his powerful perch as chairman of the Budget Committee, and he clashes even with fellow Republicans when their proposals to cut taxes--especially the capital-gains tax--would stand in the way of a balanced budget.
THE ISSUES Budget YES Medicare NO Defense YES Abortion NO Guns NO Gays NO Bosnia YES NAFTA YES Welfare NO National Service NO (For an explanation of these issues, see the front of this guide.)
QUOTE OF NOTE: "The change in the temperament of the people seems to make it easier than reducing the deficit in the past has ever been. It's a lot different."
ART TRUJILLO (D) SENATE CHALLENGER
BORN: Nov. 25, 1940, Chico EDUCATION: U of Oklahoma, B.A., 1963, M.S., 1965 FAMILY: Wife, Elaine; two children RELIGION: Roman Catholic MILITARY: None OCCUPATION: Marketing executive; regional planner POLITICAL CAREER: Santa Fe County commission, 1974-78; mayor of Santa Fe, 1978-82; Bernalillo County Democratic Party chairman, 1990- ADDRESS: 303 San Mateo Northeast, Suite 100, Albuquerque 87108. Tel.: 505-265-4000
Trujillo, a former mayor of Santa Fe, earned the daunting privilege of going up against the heavily favored incumbent, Pete Domenici, by winning 72% of the vote in the party primary. A moderate Democrat, he vows to make education his No. 1 priority, protect college loans and reinstate full funding for Head Start programs. A big reason to hope for victory: New Mexico voted for Clinton in 1992.