Udall is going to jump in.

Heath Haussamen reports today that Rep. Tom Udall has decided to jump in the New Mexico Senate race and has started to call Democratic officials in the state to inform them of his decision. If confirmed, this would be a major coup for both the DSCC that relentlessly pressured Udall to run even after he ruled it out at the beginning of October, and for the netroots that organized a very successful Draft Udall movement. Previous reports had already indicated that Udall was moving to hire staff and putting the pieces of a run together — so this latest report sounds very believable.

Udall appears to be the strongest candidate for the seat, as two polls taken over the past few weeks show him running well ahead of his Republican opponents by double-digits, while Mayor Chavez, the other Democrat in the race, at best ties them. Udall would first have to defeat Chavez in the primary, and Chavez has already threatened to run a nasty campaign against Udall, making the case last week that Udall runs “too far to the left.” Democrats are now expected to pressure Chavez to drop out of the race, and perhaps get in the House seat left vacant by Heather Wilson.

Campaign Diaries

I knew he’d end up running with how far ahead he was in the preliminary polling against both Pearce and Wilson.  If he makes it through the primary he’s going to be a big headache in November.