By Shelley Conroy
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 5

Delegates: 21

Chairman: Sen. Pete V. Domenici

Hotel: Embassy Suites Center City (215) 561-1776

1996 Election:
Clinton – 49%
Dole – 42%
Perot – 6%

As a five-term senator and longtime chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Republican Pete V. Domenici will command attention at the Republican National Convention. The fact that Domenici is from New Mexico, a state with one of the smallest convention delegations, makes him stand out all the more.

Domenici is chairman of the 21-member New Mexico contingent, reprising a role he filled in 1996. Dawn Larimer, a delegate who also attended the 1996 convention, described Domenici as more than a "symbolic head" of the delegation, saying that the senator "really helps set the tone."

New Mexico held its presidential primary on June 6, three months almost to the day after Texas Gov. George W. Bush virtually clinched the Republican presidential nomination. As a result, the state's delegation is solidly behind Bush.

Colin R. McMillan, state chairman of the Bush campaign, is a delegate. McMillan was the Republican nominee against Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman in 1994 but lost by 54 percent to 46 percent.

Another thwarted congressional candidate in the delegation is state Sen.William F. Davis. Davis sought to challenge Bingaman this year, but lost the June 6 primary to former U.S. Rep. Bill Redmond. He also lost a primary for New Mexico's 1st Congressional District seat in 1998.

State Republican Chairman John Dendahl described this year's delegation as fiscally conservative, with a sprinkling of social conservatives and a few members with libertarian leanings.

As for the representation of religious conservatives in the delegation, Larimer said, "There are some of us that are Christians but not tied to any organized group, and there are some of us that are."

Though Bush has stated a goal of attracting the votes of Democratic-leaning minority constituencies, the delegation from New Mexico - a state where Hispanics make up two-fifths of the population - has only a handful of members with Spanish surnames.

"I would've liked more Hispanic representation within the delegation, but, actually, it is equal to the Hispanic population involved in the state's Republican Party," said Davis.

New Mexico will have two of the youngest participants in the Philadelphia convention: delegate Anna Emerick, a senior at New Mexico State University, and alternate delegate Benjamin L. Rawson, an 18-year-old home school graduate.

NEW MEXICO NOTABLES: Sen. Pete V. Domenici, the delegation chairman; former Defense Department official Colin R. McMillan, state chairman of the Bush campaign; state Sen. William F. Davis, an unsuccessful primary candidate for U.S. House in 1998 and U.S. Senate this year.