There was no news release, no news conference, not even a heads-up phone call to Capitol reporters.
Yet many in the political world seem to know that Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, has formed an exploratory committee to run for governor in 2010.
How? Facebook.
Sanchez over the weekend posted a 13-word status update on his page on the popular social networking site announcing the committee, and the word was out.
Albuquerque radio reporter Peter St. Cyr noticed the post, and put in on his blog, then on his Twitter page.
Blogger Matthew Reichbach promptly retweeted — that is, he posted a Twitter update referencing St. Cyr’s tweet — on his own Twitter page. Other blogs followed suit.
Welcome to the 2010 campaign.
“Especially in the higher-profile races like governor, you can expect the use of technology to support whatever cause the candidate has,” said University of New Mexico political-science professor Lonna Atkeson. “It certainly is a cheap way for candidates to get out their message.”
Sanchez, a lawyer who has served in the Senate since 1993, is the brother of former House Speaker Raymond Sanchez.
He said he opted to use Facebook for the announcement in part to reach the growing number of online users.
But Sanchez said Monday evening he had a little help from his wife and daughter getting the information posted.
“I’m still not as good as I’d like to be, but I’m learning,” he said.
Sanchez in 2007 sponsored a measure that would have made it optional for candidates to have to file campaign finance reports electronically. The Legislature in 2006 passed a law requiring the online filing except in hardship cases.
At the time, Sanchez told The New Mexican that the bill “isn’t trying to hide campaign-finance reports. It’s for people like me who aren’t very good at computers or access to the Internet.”
He stood by that decision Monday, saying it should be an option to file on paper for people who need to. However, he pointed out that he has filed electronically for the past few years.
Known as a moderate Democrat, Sanchez most recently carried legislation that would have created a Cabinet-level Hispanic affairs department. Gov. Bill Richardson vetoed the bill earlier this year.
He said he’s gotten a lot of calls from supporters urging him to run and expects to make a decision in the next few weeks.
If he does run, Sanchez would face Lt. Gov. Diane Denish in next year’s primary election. Republicans in the mix include former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, former state GOP party chairman Allen Weh and Greg Zanetti, a brigadier general in the New Mexico Army National Guard. Both Wilson and Zanetti have Facebook pages.
Weh press secretary Christopher Sanchez said his campaign as soon as this week could launch an English and Spanish site for Weh’s possible run, as well as a Twitter page. If he does run for governor, Weh’s campaign plans to use social networking sites as well.
“He wants to reach out to as many young voters and Hispanics as possible,” Sanchez said.
Over at Denish’s campaign, spokesman Steve Fitzer said Denish’s Web site is in the process of being updated, and other tools like Facebook are already in use.
A Facebook invitation to an event this weekend got a 25 percent to 30 percent response rate, he said, much higher than for campaign invites sent by regular mail.
“The way to communicate with people is text messages, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter ... It’s just the new method of communication. Eventually we’ll just send psychic messages to everyone,” Fitzer joked.
Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at www.greenchilechatter.com.