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Share ThisJul 20, 2009
Steve Pearce: A Poll Driven Professional Politician
Since losing his 2008 bid for Senate by 22 points, Steve Pearce has been calculating his return to politics. Just a few months after his double-digit loss last November, Pearce proclaimed that he'd "run for something" - either governor or Congressman from the 2nd District. After seeing some polling data that showed a gubernatorial race to be a mighty climb, Pearce appeared closer to a run for the 2nd Congressional District seat. Sensing an excuse to mask his blatant political calculation, Pearce said his intention to run for Congress was based on the energy vote. Of course, on the very day of his announcement, Pearce told his hometown paper, the Hobbs News-Sun that his decision was made "after studying the political realities" because it would've been difficult "to win the northern part of the state."
"One of the worst kept secrets both in New Mexico and Washington, D.C. was Steve Pearce's desire to return to politics," said Andy Stone, Western Regional Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "So after polls showed he'd lose the governor's race and he examined ‘the political realities,' Pearce decided to run for Congress. That begs the question: is Steve Pearce concerned more with his resume or serving southern New Mexicans?"
Below is the decision making timeline of Steve Pearce, the professional politician
July 7, 2009: Pearce says his decision to run was centered around the political calculus, noting that his choice was made only after examining "the political realities" that for Pearce "it's very difficult to win the northern part of the state." [Hobbs News-Sun, 7/017/09]
July 6, 2009: Pearce flips flops on what he told reporters just two weeks prior and announces a run for the Congressional seat held by Harry Teague. [Peopleforpearce.com; KOAT ABC-7, 7/07/09]
July 1, 2009: As Pearce inches closer to announcing a run for Congress, he is quoted in a press release from the NM GOP. [Albuquerque Journal, 7/01/09]
Week of June 29, 2009: Pearce says he'll decide what office he'll run for based on "what was best for the Republican Party." [Peopleforpearce.com; KOB.com, 7/07/09]
June 26, 2009: Pearce tells CQ that he will put off his decision until sometime between July 20-27. [CQ, 6/26/09]
June 18, 2009: Despite Pearce's very public flirtation with a gubernatorial run, statewide poll shows that Pearce trails Lt. Gov. Diane Denish by more than 20 points in the governor's race. [The Hill, 7/06/09]
June 5, 2009: Pearce tells CQ that he will decide whether to run for governor or Congress by the end of the month. Pearce adds that giving up politics would "waste" his experience in government. Pearce blames his loss on the "anti-Republican mood" of 2008. [CQ, 6/08/09]
May 7, 2009: Pearce speaks to the Republican Women of Otero County and tells the crowd, ironically, that "what he does is not significant." [Alamogordo Daily News, 5/7/09]
April 27, 2009: Pearce holds a fundraiser to pay down his debt and tells a crowd he had not yet made a decision about his future. [Lovington Leader, 4/27/09]
April 16, 2009: Still contemplating a gubernatorial run, Pearce appears at a Tea Party in Farmington, N.M., 500 miles from his hometown. [Farmington Daily Times, 4/16/09]
March 19, 2009: Pearce tells Roll Call he'll run "for something," but that he was "not sure what yet." [Roll Call, 3/19/09]
January 31, 2009: Pearce tells the Las Cruces Sun-News, definitively, that he'll "run for something" and that he's eying both the gubernatorial and 2nd Congressional District races. He says he'll "do some polling" and that he'll also keep his Washington, D.C., home. [Las Cruces Sun-News, 1/31/09]
November 4, 2008: Pearce loses by 22 points in the New Mexico Senate race. [Roll Call, 3/19/09]
October 17, 2007: Pearce announces that he will vacate his Congressman seat and run for Senate in 2008. [Albuquerque Journal, 10/17/07]
December 5, 1999: Pearce announces that he will leave his state representative seat and run for Sen. Jeff Bingaman's Senate seat. [Albuquerque Journal, 12/05/99]
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