NM-1: DOWN TO THE WIRE.

NM-1: DOWN TO THE WIRE. Democratic Attorney General Patricia Madrid is going into the last full week before elections in New Mexico's first district with a razor-thin lead over incumbent Republican Heather Wilson. Of course, the poll was run before the televised debate last week. Who won the debate largely depends on who you ask, though most observers found the incumbent to be more polished. Wilson, indeed, has jumped on a verbal stumble of Madrid's during the debate and turned it into an attack ad -- using a bit of creative editing to make it stick:

The ad uses a portion of the debate where Wilson asks Madrid, "Can you cite something that would give the people of New Mexico some kind of reassurance that you will prevent a tax increase?"Madrid pauses before saying, "Your president and you have -- have voted for a tax relief."

Here was Madrid's full answer from the debate:

Madrid: "Your president and you have voted for tax relief for the top 1 percent of taxpayers in this country, costing us an immeasurable amount of money. If I go to Congress, I will vote to repeal that tax relief. I do support tax relief for the middle class, even the upper middle class."

It isn't exactly a dirty ad, but it is misleading -- but with so little time left, that may be all that is needed to stall a surging Madrid.

--Thurman Hart, (crossposted at Midterm Madness)