New Mexico a swing state? The respected British mag, The Economist, picks up on the Land of Enchantment’s penchant for close races and switching loyalties — voting for a Democrat in the 2000 presidential race and a Republican in 2004 — in a profile of New Mexico and Nevada.

The magazine mentions Rio Rancho, the population center of the swingiest of New Mexico’s swing counties — Sandoval County, which the Independent’s Joel Gay profiled today, as well as Indian Country and "Little Texas."

The writer can’t help but start with Hollywood’s take on New Mexico — Kevin Costner’s movie "Swing Vote."
 

Although “Swing Vote” depicts Bud Johnson as a truck-driving Everyman, New Mexico is not an everymannish kind of place. It is America’s third-poorest state and its most Hispanic. It has lots of military veterans and American Indians. It is beautiful and wild, in the wild-West sense. In the north-central section, around Taos, roadside crosses testify both to the strength of traditional Catholic culture and to the popularity of drunk-driving.

The writer goes on:

 

Most confusingly of all, from the candidates’ point of view, New Mexico contains five distinct regions. The north-west is Indian country. The north-central region is a mixture of established Hispanic families and white newcomers, many with artistic pretensions. The east is “little Texas”, full of families from that state; parts of it get their TV news from across the border. The south contains migrants from Mexico. The fifth region is Albuquerque and its surrounds.

The differences between these areas, and the large distances separating them, make it hard to run a statewide campaign. Barack Obama’s solution is to open lots of offices. He currently has 24 (compared to John McCain’s seven), including several in hostile territory. Turn left out of his office in Rio Rancho, a swelling suburb north-west of Albuquerque, and you will quickly pass four evangelical churches and two gun shops. Still, before November both he and Mr McCain are likely to send a lot of propaganda through the post.