Last night, I received a statement from Pete Domenici, Jr.'s campaign regarding the "demographic" comment he made in an interview with Jim Villanucci. The New Mexico Democratic Party suggestively asked the question as to what Domenici was getting at with that comment, though the content of my inbox would suggest it raised some eyebrows outside of their headquarters, too. In any event, here is the Domenici campaign's response:

"Barely has the campaign for governor left the starting gate that the Democrats are already showing their desperation to cleave to the New Mexico governorship by using their favorite tactic of last resort—the ‘race card.'

Sensing further Republican encroachment on their steadily dwindling support among Hispanic voters, the local Democrat Chairman Javier Gonzalez disingenuously attacked Mr. Domenici for answering a radio interviewer’s question about whether Susana Martinez, Republican gubernatorial candidate from a remote area of our very large state ‘has a geographical disadvantage in a statewide race.’ Domenici replied that because Ms. Martinez was from a distant southerly geographical county in the huge state, she was therefore ‘from a different demographic than the other four candidates’ who are all from Albuquerque—New Mexico’s largest and most centralized city.

Desperate to trigger a cultural and racial divide, the democrat spokesman tried to twist the geographically, economical, and statistical term ‘demographic’ into a mean-spirited racial epithet, even though the context of the interview was clear to any honest listener. Mr. Domenici’s statistical term was only meant to explain a different geographical area in the state in the exact same manner the interviewer framed his geographical question about the area. ...

Pete Domenici, Jr., jumped into the New Mexico gubernatorial race just a few weeks ago, and it looks like he’s in it to win it. According to Campaign Director Doug Antoon, Domenici’s team will release information about its fundraising to-date on Monday, at 6PM. The amount raised reportedly exceeds $200,000, all brought in, in about 5 weeks of campaigning.

But in addition to raising money, Domenici has raised some eyebrows as well—mainly Democratic ones—by virtue of a comment he apparently made in an interview with Jim Villanucci a little over a week ago (it was during CPAC, so I missed it). Here’s the soundbyte that made people, er, wonder:

How so, you ask? Well, maybe, for one thing, Domenici and his Republican opponents Janice Arnold-Jones, Doug Turner and Allen Weh are not Hispanic, whereas his other Republican opponent, Susana Martinez, the one who he’s being asked about, is. ...

The race to succeed retiring Rep. Brian Baird in Washington’s third district has taken a sharply negative turn with David Castillo, one of two leading Republicans vying for a spot on the November ballot, taking a proverbial hatchet to the other, State Rep. Jaime Herrera, in a robocall that has caused tempers to flare among political insiders in Southwest Washington. The robocall, narrated by a female voice who identifies herself only as “Susan” and put out on Thursday, attacks Herrera for taking money from labor union SEIU and for traveling to Washington, DC for events held that same day.

Herrera was in the nation’s capital on Thursday for fundraising and meet-and-greet events hosted by her former employer, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and high-profile Herrera endorser former Sen. Slade Gorton.

A representative of the Washington State Legislature with whom I spoke today confirmed that none of the committees on which Herrera serves met on Thursday; nor were any votes taken in the Washington State House of Representatives on that day. That, specifically, has one prominent Republican in the district outraged at Castillo’s attack....