Cute, cuddly and a spy? Rover helps scientists get close to shy birds Life & Science, A-7
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3 ELECTIONS 2014: ANALYSIS
District training goes beyond lockdown
Wins might not mean mandates
Experts rethinking approach to shooting scenarios. EDUCATION, A-6
Spaceship disaster reignites criticism President Barack Obama speaks Sunday at a rally in Bridgeport, Conn., for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s re-election campaign. The national environment has been shaped by dissatisfaction with Obama as much as any other factor. John Minchillo/The Associated Press
Vulnerable seats up for grabs this midterm election Most competitive Senate races
Best chance for GOP pickup of Dem seat
Republicans need to gain six seats to take control of the Senate.
Dem seat in toss-up race
STRATEGIES FOR GOP TAKING THE SENATE
Best chance for Dem/Ind* pickup of GOP seat
Nonagenarian Sally-Alice Thompson, pictured last month between Madrid and Cerrillos, walked from Albuquerque to Santa Fe to protest runaway spending in elections. Courtesy Sandi Johnston
2. Go after Democratic senators in four states Obama lost in 2012: Arkansas, Louisiana, Alaska and North Carolina.
Amid muddy politicking, 91-year-old sets example
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dealism didn’t disappear this year in the mud baths that substituted for political campaigns. One person stood especially tall in New Mexico. She is a 91-year-old rebel with a cause named SallyAlice Thompson. Thompson came of voting age in 1944, the year Franklin D. Roosevelt sought and won his fourth term Milan as president. Simonich With each passRingside Seat ing decade, she has become more disturbed by politicians and their fat-cat donors. Thompson recently walked more than 60 miles from her home in Albuquerque to Santa Fe to protest runaway spending in elections. She says the system creates access for a few, hurts countless others and is poisoning the country. “All other issues are subordinate to the money in politics,” Thompson said in an interview one recent day. The late Doris Haddock of New Hampshire, also known as Granny D, inspired Thompson to try to do something about it. Haddock walked across the country in 1999 and 2000 in the original call for campaign finance reform by an inflamed senior citizen. Haddock was almost 90 years old when she began her 3,200-mile walk. Fourteen years after Haddock took her stand, Thompson emulated it on a much smaller scale. But the mere fact that she was on the road for 13 days, staying in the homes of friends or gratis at bed-and-breakfast places,
Please see RINGSIDE, Page A-4
1. Win the three easy ones. Republicans are heavily favored to replace retiring Democratic senators in West Virginia and Montana, and should carry South Dakota.
Most competitive House races
Democrat: 27 seats
Democrats’ hopes of mitigating House losses is an uphill battle.
Republican: 12 seats
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10
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Lawmakers: Leadership, effective use of resources critical in state’s schools
4. Pick up an open seat in a battleground state such as Iowa.
By Robert Nott
STATE OF PLAY FOR RACES IN THE HOUSE
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The question is not whether Republicans hold the House — that’s a given. Rather, it’s how many seats could the GOP add to its majority on Election Day? The House outlook remains bright for the GOP as national Democrats bail on once-promising opportunities in Virginia and Colorado — shifting money in efforts to save vulnerable incumbents in California and Illinois. Republicans have a long list of potential seats that they could pick up a few seats including one in West Virginia, two seats in Arizona, a San Diego-area seat in California and a suddenly competitive open seat in Maine.
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Source: election Associated Press SOURCE:APAP Electionresearch The Research AP
Dissatisfaction with politics high across U.S., but some races close By Dan Balz
The Washington Post
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where in the closing days of the 2014 election ELN CONGRESS VULNERABLE 102117: Midterm graphic shows competitive Inside races in the Sentatecampaign. and HouseVoters and provides strategic insight; 4c x 8 inches; with any midterm in states u Polling places. Page A-8 related midterm election story; PH; ETAalso 4 p.m. with competitive elections feel
n the Kansas City suburbs, a man besieged by the ceaseless negative ads that ONaccompany OUR WEBSITE It is mandatory to include all sources who won’t give his name saysEditor’s he is Note: on their televisions. Many are relucthis graphic when repurposing or editing it for publication paying no attention to the election. u For complete elections coverage, tant to answer a telephone call from a visit santafenewmexican.com/ Why? “Out of disgust,” he replies. number they don’t recognize, fearing elections In the Denver suburbs, a woman more political messaging. finishing her coffee sees an elected The national environment has official at the adjoining table. “Are you licans continue to be concerned with been shaped by dissatisfaction with ready for the election to be over? I the party’s poor image and by how am!” she says with evident frustration. President Barack Obama as much many tight races remain in a year as any other single factor. But there Crosscurrents of dissatisfaction, that should have them in a stronger is enough else bothering people to from distrust of politicians to worposition on election eve. Democrats have kept many Senate and gubernaries about family finances to fears of foreign threats, can be found everytorial races close to the end. RepubPlease see ELECTION, Page A-4
U.N. panel issues stark warning on global warming Report says world lacks serious policy to prevent ‘irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems’ By Justin Gillis
The New York Times
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The gathering risks of climate change are so profound they could stall or even reverse generations of progress against poverty and hunger if greenhouse emissions continue at a runaway pace, according to a major new United Nations report.
Index
Despite growing efforts in many countries to tackle the problem, the global situation is becoming more acute as developing countries join the West in burning huge amounts of fossil fuels, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said here Sunday. Failure to reduce emissions, the group of scientists and other experts found, could threaten society with food shortages, refugee crises, the flood-
ing of major cities and entire island nations, mass extinction of plants and animals, and a climate so drastically altered it might become dangerous for people to work or play outside during the hottest times of the year. “Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems,” the report found. In the starkest language it has ever used, the expert panel made clear how
far society remains from having any serious policy to limit global warming. Doing so would require leaving the vast majority of the world’s reserves of fossil fuels in the ground, or, alternatively, developing methods to capture and bury the emissions resulting from their use, the group said. If governments are to meet their own stated goal of limiting the warming of the planet to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above the preindustrial level, they must restrict
Please see WARMING, Page A-10
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Report: Poverty by itself does not hinder education
3. Don't lose any GOP-held seats. Democrats are making a run on Georgia. An upstart independent has rattled the race in Kansas.
5. Knock off a Democratic senator in a state Obama won, such as Colorado or New Hampshire. This should be the Republicans’ toughest task.
The Democrat dropped out of the race in Kansas; an independent candidate is challenging the GOP incumbent.
Friday’s incident a reminder of deadly 2007 incident. Page A-3
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The New Mexican
According to a new Legislative Finance Committee report, poverty is no excuse when it comes to a child’s ability to learn. But to succeed, leaders of highpoverty schools must effectively funnel financial resources into areas that need support, coordinate those services, help teachers and monitor student progress. Another common characteristic of high-performing schools — be they high-poverty or low-poverty sites — is an ability to rely on parent and community involvement. Madelyn Serna-Mármol, one of 11 program evaluators who put the report together, presented it to the committee Thursday at the Roundhouse. The case study relies on data from 15 schools in eight districts, including Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe. While much of the information within the report is not surprising, it reinforces the need to have strong leadership at school sites, as committee member Rep. Jimmie Hall, R-Bernalillo, noted. He said principals at successful high-poverty schools in the study are not using “poverty for what I call a crutch.” Among other points, the report compares an unnamed high-performing elementary school with a unnamed
Please see EDUCATION, Page A-8
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Tinariwen Tuareg-Berber musicians, 7:30 p.m., Skylight, 139 W. San Francisco St., $30 and $47 in advance at holdmyticket.com. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
Obituaries Dr. Juan Guadalupe (Lupe) Rodriguez, Oct. 28 Tonita Payton Page A-8
Today Plenty of sunshine. High 53, low 29. Page A-8
Two sections, 20 pages 165th year, No. 307 Publication No. 596-440