# Talk:1997 New Mexico's 3rd congressional district special election

Hey anyone who stumbles on this page! I've looked everywhere, but I can't find any free images of either Eric Serna or Carol Miller. You can see non-free images of Serna here ([6]) and Miller here ([7]). Because both people are still alive, it's not acceptable to upload a non-free image to use here. Nomader (talk) 16:23, 30 June 2020 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:1997 New Mexico's 3rd congressional district special election/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Hog Farm (talk · contribs) 21:18, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

Lead
Add a short description
Added to the second paragraph.
Are free images for Serna or Miller available?
Unfortunately, no. I've looked honestly everywhere for them. There's a solid number of non-free images that are available, but because both people are still alive, I don't think that fair use would apply here.
I find it extremely odd that the election date is never explicitly mentioned in the body, just in the lead.
I added it to the body (and also changed the reference here-- the original said it was "likely" he would select that date, added the news bulletin where he set it).
"and the negative perception of Eric Serna as a Democratic candidate" - I don't like this phrasing.  It can be read as Serna had a negative perception because he was a Democrat, which doesn't seem to be right, as this was a blue district.
Fixed.
The lead doesn't provide a good summary of the article.  The candidate selection process and the campaign drama aren't really mentioned at all in the lead
Added it in here, hopefully should be enough.
Background
"Democratic Congressman Bill Richardson had held New Mexico's 3rd congressional district since it was created from the 1980 census" - Link 1980 United States Census.  Also, from isn't really the best word.  Maybe clarify that it was from redistricting?
I added a lot here to it, think it clarifies it now.
Per MOS:PERCENT, you need to spell out percent, not use the %.
Changed.
"The heavily Democratic-3rd district held a large" - Feels like a weird hyphen to me.
Removed.
Link the Democrats and Republicans.  Non-US readers may not be familiar with the US part system.
Linked to them.
Link Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico
Linked to it.
Link Roberto Mondragón at the first mention, not at the later one
Fixed it.
"At the state level, the Green Party of New Mexico had run a strong third party campaign in the 1994 New Mexico gubernatorial election, where Lieutenant Governor Roberto Mondragón claimed 10% of the vote statewide, and were growing in strength in New Mexico at the time of the special election" - Remove "At the state level", as this is clear, since you're talking only about the Green Party of New Mexico, not the overall Green Party.  Also, since Green Party of New Mexico is a singular organization, use "was", not "were"
Fixed.
"New Mexico's state law required the Governor of New Mexico to call for a special election within 10 days of a vacancy in the Congressional delegation." - Not in the source.  Confusingly, even though the source appears to be paywalled, I was able to get into this one, but not the others.
I wrote this article while I was waiting for approval for a newspapers.com account from the Wikipedia Library and I don't plan on making the same mistake again if I can avoid it, it's even tough for me to login to see these sometimes. Can't speak for the paywall part, but the source is referring to just the second sentence here (which has the direct quote), and not the first one. I've added another source for the first sentence here. Also, if you'd like access to the library I'm using, feel free to message me off of here and I can send over temporary credentials.
Green Party of New Mexico is overlinked
Done
You need to gloss that GOP = Republicans
Done
Link The Santa Fe New Mexican
Done.
Still responding to these, will add more soon. Nomader (talk) 17:35, 6 July 2021 (UTC)
Democratic selection process
"Santa Fe County Commissioner Javier Gonzales, dropped out" - Lose the comma.
Done.
In the candidates list, mark Maes as dropped out, like you did with the other ones who did so
Marked it the same way.
"Senator Roman Maes announced that he was considering a general election write-in campaign due to disgust with the selection process.[27] Maes eventually decided to drop out altogether instead" - You've already introduced Maes, so you don't need to do that again.  In fact, you can probably combine these two sentences
Combined them.
The main paragraph implies that Sosa Jr. thought about running, but didn't, but the list calls him a candidate, implying he did run.
It's honestly a bit confusing-- as far as I can tell from sources, he never officially said "I'm running", but the chairman said people could vote for him, he ended up giving a speech at the committee hearing complaining about early endorsements of Serna, and got 8 votes at the meeting. There's no "Sosa is now running" article I can find anywhere outside the kind of weirdness of him hopping onto the stage here.
Per MOS:JR, not comma before the Jr. in the names.
Fixed.
We need a citation that Lobato was a candidate.
Added a citation.
More to come. Hog Farm  Bacon 16:02, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

Republican selection process
What denomination was Redmond a pastor in?
Added a source for it-- his denomination is the Christian Church denomination, which I've wikilinked to in the title of his church.
Redmond is overlinked
Removed extras.
If Redmond got 70 votes, Carrarro got 33, then who got the other 31?
Helpfully, the source doesn't say-- it only specifies for those two candidates.
Green Part nomination
"Santa Fean city councilman Cris Moore immediately expressed interest in the nomination" - It's not necessary to try to turn Santa Fe into an adjective here, so just use the regular spelling of Fe.
Although I think it'd be a boon to the English language, I've made this change.
The results subheading of this section isn't really long enough to support itself, so just merge it into the rest of the section.
Merged it in.
Will be getting to the general election shortly. Nomader (talk) 17:59, 6 July 2021 (UTC)
General election
"Before Serna had even secured the nomination, GOP Chairman John Dendahl attacked Eric Serna on ethics-related grounds and for the Democratic nomination process, which was attracting controversy." - The reader already knows who Serna is.  We don't need his first name again.
Removed the first name.
"with Redmond's support of the Christian Coalition and Redmond fought back, saying that his values matched those of the district" - This needs rephrased.  As it is right now, it's not grammatical, but I'm not sure exactly what's wrong.
I just deleted it, I'm really not sure what I was trying to say there-- the next sentence is from the exact same source. I think it's leftover from my original jotted down notes.
I believe it's "northern New Mexico", not "Northern New Mexico", as the direction adjective is only capitalized if there's a specific formal name of the region
It's a semi-formal (at least) name for the region-- "Northern New Mexico" and other places I've seen it referred to in news print all have it capitalized. Added a wikilink here.
Link Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe
Done.
"At a forum in Taos that was aired on cable television, Miller, Serna, Redmond, and Pearlman (the Reform candidate) participated" - We already know that Pearlman is the reform candidate, so the paranthetical isn't necessary
Fixed.
""I don't even like sushi and I wouldn't be drinking a beer in a bar like that. I like American beer, Corona, really," - I can't access the source for this, but I want to double-check to see if this is right, cause I'm pretty sure Corona ain't an American beer
I've temporarily hosted a PDF of the article on Google Drive so you can review this quote in all it's absolute (possibly sarcastic?) beauty. Linked here, once this review is finished I'll be taking it down.
"Radio attack ads included Republican ads against Serna, saying: "Washington is engulfed in money scandals and corruption.[51] Eric Serna would fit right in"" - Remove the inline in the middle of the quote.  It's not necessary, it really looks odd.
Done.
"supported balancing the federal budget within five years, but only Richmond supported a Constitutional Amendment to codify it" - Who's Richmond?
That's a very, very unfortunate typo. Fixed.
Ready for the home stretch section, gonna take another break there. Hog Farm  Bacon 18:56, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

Coming up on the last section here as well. Nomader (talk) 18:18, 6 July 2021 (UTC)
FEC needs glossed at the first mention, which is well up in the article.
Done.
Link The Albuquerque Tribune and Albuquerque Journal
Done.
Gloss DNC
Done.
References
All of the newsbank references need the subscription required parameter
Should be fixed now.
The Magleby reference has two issues: Only include his name, not the distinguished professor thing.  Also, it needs a page number.
Fixed (also removed the duplicate author piece).
That's about it from me, I think.  Placing on hold. Hog Farm  Bacon 22:23, 12 October 2020 (UTC)
Been a week with no contact from nominator, who isn't really active at the moment, so gonna fail this one.  Nominator - use these to improve the article; ping me once these get done and I can try to take another look. Hog Farm  Bacon 17:14, 19 October 2020 (UTC)

I'm 9 months late, but I've gone through and addressed your comments. Thank you so much for this thorough review, it means the world to me that you took this much time to read through it. Nomader (talk) 18:33, 6 July 2021 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:1997 New Mexico's 3rd congressional district special election/GA2. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Hog Farm (talk · contribs) 02:35, 9 July 2021 (UTC)
Will try to get to this weekend.  I've got a much longer GA review I've already got in my "to review" queue. Hog Farm  Talk 02:35, 9 July 2021 (UTC)

No rush! I was nine months late responding to your initial comments, so take your time. Nomader (talk) 18:31, 9 July 2021 (UTC)
"delaying the election date as Johnson was required to follow in state law" - something seems slightly off here from a grammar perspective
Split it into two sentences, think it flows much better now.
Is it worth giving the exact date that Richardson resigned, since that affected the date that the election was held per state law?
Added, and also added a source with the exact date of his resignation.
Link Joe Carraro
Added.
"Redmond had previously been defeated by Bill Richardson in 1996." - I think you can drop the link and just say Richardson, as he's already been introduced in the article
Done.
"The Republican Chairman Dendahl filed an FEC complaint against the state Democratic Party over $40,000 they had spent" - anything specific, or were they just throwing accusations out there?
They were just throwing up muck-- the attack line against Serna was that he was corrupt, and anything they could use to add to that hit they were trying to. The source basically says, "Republicans have filed this complaint, Democrats deny it" kind of stuff.
Redmond's election night watch party was an "out of the way Holiday Inn, while a stunned Serna was at the Eldorado Hotel, a "swanky" location according to The Albuquerque Tribune - seem to be missing a " in here somewhere
Added.
Sourcing looks good
Image licensing looks okay
That's it for round 2.  This one is well on its way to being GA. I'm still surprised to see Corona called an American beer by a politician, but maybe that was after a few of them. Hog Farm  Talk 00:59, 12 July 2021 (UTC)

@Hog Farm: Honestly, I'm not sure if the corona line was sarcasm (as in he's joking) or if he was being serious, but either way, I think it illustrates the depths of the absurdity that the election reached-- which is why I'm very happy that quote exists! I think this should address your notes here, let me know if you need anything else from me. Nomader (talk) 00:50, 13 July 2021 (UTC)

"The heavily Democratic 3rd district held a large Democratic voter registration advantage, and was widely seen as a safe Democratic seat. The district breakdown was 59 percent Democratic, 29 percent Republican, 2 percent Green, and 9 percent Independent, giving Democrats a wide support base.[2]" This seems to repeat itself quite a bit and at the very least could be expressed without using "Democrat"[s] five times in two sentences.
" selecting a delegation" This is a bit unclear. Perhaps "selecting convention delegates"
" as he announced that he had enough support locked in from the 89 Democratic Central Committee members who chose the nominee." perhaps "as he announced that he had enough support from the 89 members to gain the nomination". Or some such. You're repeating yourself.
"Serna met with Democratic leadership to earn their support in Washington, D.C. and to campaign among the delegation there." This feels like it might be repeating itself too. Presumably he wanted the support of New Mexico's four federal lawmakers, but is "Democratic leadership" the same thing or do we mean the congressional leadership? It could be clearer in either case.
"A number of Democrats who considered running for the seat chastised Serna and the Democratic Party for its "back room politics" approach to the nomination, while Serna announced the names of 56 of the 83 member central committee that publicly supported him.[22][23] A couple of things. A comma probably should not be used to join two such distantly related topics. The announcement by Serna seems again a duplicate of information we have already gotten, "who" should be used instead of "that", central committee isn't capped whereas it was before (be consistent throughout), and when did 89 become 83?
I'd make it clear up front that Galanis was a candidate. That doesn't become clear until several sentences after he's first mentioned.
"the speed at which the nomination was coming forward.[27] Senator Roman Maes" Coming forward should probably be "being decided" or similar, and if Maes is a state senator, which I imagine he was, that should be more clearly stated.
"former Governor" etc. review MOS:JOBTITLES.
More later.--Wehwalt (talk) 18:58, 6 February 2022 (UTC)
"Attacks between" Can you have "attacks between"?
"Democrats lodged an FEC complaint regarding Redmond's missing identification requirements that they alleged he failed to file.[2]" I'm not sure what this means.
"A last debate, hosted by KNME-TV, took place a day before the primary.[69] " The primary or the general election?
Did anything else change besides the Democratic candidate between 1997 and 1998, for example the Green candidate or the law re fusion tickets?
That's it. If you give me a ping when you're ready, I'll do a second run-through.--Wehwalt (talk) 16:23, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

A number of the Newsbank references appear to be unavailable when not logged into a library (or somehow seem to be dead links). I'm doing a spot check of every reference in the article by opening URLs in a private browser -- I've already gone through #8, but will be keeping this section for reference for the remainder of them. Nomader (talk) 14:49, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

8: Newsbank works.
9: Newsbank works.
10: Newsbank works.
11: Reference is broken, doesn't lead to anything. Working on finding in Newspapers.com.
12: Leads to a login page where my login doesn't work. Working on finding in Newspapers.com
13: Leads to a login page where my login doesn't work. Working on finding in Newspapers.com
14: Newsbank works.
15: Newsbank works.
16: Newsbank works.
17: Newsbank works.
18: Newsbank works.
19: Newsbank worked, but the URL had a weird title missing which I hadn't noticed. Switched to Newspapers.com.
20: Newsbank works.
21: Reference is broken and leads to a dead Newsbank page.
22: Leads to a login page where my login doesn't work. Working on finding in Newspapers.com
23: Newsbank works.
24: Newsbank works.
25: Reference is broken, doesn't lead to anything. Working on finding in Newspapers.com.