Candidates should run by their stance, not their race

Editor,

I'm writing in response to a statement made by Mayor Martin Chavez concerning Rep. Tom Udall, which was published in The New York Times. In the article, Chavez refers to Udall as being the "fair-haired boy" of Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, and Sen. Charles Schumer, the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee who worked on recruiting Udall for the Senate race.

This, in itself, might be seen as a simple jab about getting outside support, which reasonable people can disagree with. When taken with Chavez's emphasis on his Hispanic heritage, he seems to be calling Reid and Schumer, as well as Udall, racists. The real irony is that no one affiliated with Reid, the DSCC or Udall's campaign has even hinted that Chavez shouldn't be running because of his Hispanic background or that Udall himself is better because he is not Hispanic.

In fact, it is Chavez himself who has been trying to say he should be elected to the Senate because he is a Hispanic which, one might argue, makes him the real racist of this campaign. This is not the only instance where a candidate's race or gender has been used as a political tool. In Tennessee, Rep. Steve Cohen represents a district where African-American leaders are trying to rally a candidate to defeat him because he is not African-American.

Many have argued that Congress - the Senate in particular - is badly overrepresented by white males. They are correct to state this, but that doesn't mean we should expect our candidates to pass a litmus test based on race, depending on what state he or she lives in.

Hispanics, as well as every other ethnic and racial group living in New Mexico, are not served by a man whose core argument for being elected to represent New Mexico in the Senate is his or her race. The real question is, who can most effectively grant their state a voice in Congress, and who is a more substantial candidate on

issues?

Udall has run a campaign based on issues. I wish Chavez would be willing to do the same, but with a 30-point deficit against Udall, I suppose the only thing he can do is call Udall a bigot because he dares to run against a candidate who happens to be Hispanic.

Elliot Kaufman

UNM student