Locals play political pundits for Fox News

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has managed to struggle on despite having lost a lot of support from some of he strongest supporters, including African-Americans, women and union members.

But can she survive losing Bob Rosebrough?

The former mayor of Gallup was on Fox News Friday, live from Camille’s Restaurant downtown, telling hundreds of thousands of Fox viewers why he can’t support Clinton.

Actually, he said, he was a Barack Obama supporter from the get-go, but even if Obama was Obama out of the picture, it’s not likely you would see Rosebrough carrying around a Clinton sign.

“I have Clinton fatigue,” he told the Fox newscaster, pointing out that while he supported Bill Clinton, this whole thing of a Bush and then a Clinton and then a Bush and the possibility of another Clinton was just too much.

“I felt it was time for a new face,” he said.

Fox News has been sending a crew across America, asking liberals and conservatives to talk about the election. On Thursday, the crew was in Tucumcari and on Saturday, they’re scheduled to broadcast live from Sedona, Ariz.

An advance crew from Fox was in Gallup on Thursday and went to the Golden Corral Restaurant where they saw a meeting of the Sunrise Kiwanis Club in session.

Martin Link, a member of the club, said the speaker scheduled for that day failed to show up, so they invited one of the Fox advance people to step in and speak about the assignment.

As a result, one of the club members, local accountant Brett Newberry, agreed to be the Republican on Friday’s broadcast and he suggested Rosebrough for the other side.

Newberry said the segment only lasted for about a minute so there wasn’t much time for either him or Rosebrough to say much.

When he was asked who he supported, Newberry said Mitt Romney, who is no longer in the race.

There were no questions, he said, about John McCain, who apparently has the Republican nomination wrapped up.
Newberry was asked if he felt the economy was a major issue in this election and he said, “absolutely, with the global economy a big plus.”

People who want to see the segment can go to the foxnews.com and click on political videos and watch it until Saturday evening, when the network will replace it with the segment from Sedona.

A check of Hillary Clinton’s Web site as this issue of the paper was going to press showed no announcement that she was planning to give up the race as a result of Rosebrough’s endorsement of Obama.