A governor’s race that barely makes noise should make you ask one question: who benefits from the silence? We talk through why New Mexico’s top race feels so subdued, what that suggests about internal data, and how a challenger can sometimes thrive when the favorite delays attacks and keeps the timeline short. We also get into the unglamorous parts of politics that decide outcomes, polling that actually helps, message testing, fundraising signals, and why the first wave of ads can “set” a con...