Republicans in Albuquerque

Expect to hear a lot more about this. Republicans, who were utterly crushed in New Mexico’s 2008 elections, picked up the mayoralty and city council of Albuquerque last night, aided considerably by Democrat Richard Romero running as a spoiler to the left of Democratic Mayor Martin Chavez.

Republicans, who held one of the state’s Senate seats and two of its House seats, lost all of that last year. But expect to hear mayor-elect Richard Berry tipped as a candidate for the swing House seat anchored in Albuquerque in 2012, and expect to hear this mentioned as a piece with a Republican comeback if the party scores more victories next month.