“I’ve never been investigated,” Denish said. “I’ve never been called by any investigative agency. Her rhetoric doesn’t match her attacks...I’m not taking any lectures from her.”

Yet despite Denish’s arguments, observers say she’s the one with the most explaining to do because of her connections to the current administration.

“Sometimes I think Richardson is her first name,” said Joe Monahan, an independent Albuquerque-based political blogger.

“Denish fairly or unfairly is tied to him,” said Martha Mauritson, managing editor of the Carlsbad Current-Argus. “She gets some jeers that probably belong to him. But she’s going to get them because she’s been standing there next to him.”

Martinez has a formula to follow if she’s going to win in Democrat-dominated New Mexico. Republicans have been successful statewide before by winning independent and conservative Democratic votes, most recently with GOP Govs. Gary Johnson and Garrey Carruthers and six-term Sen. Pete Domenici, who retired in 2009.

“The lay of the land breaks to Democrats, but we’ve had Republican governors, and we usually get them when the natives are restless,” Monohan said.

Ethnicity is another critical factor this November, with Hispanics comprising more than half the state’s registered voters. Most are Democrat, but it’s unclear how they’ll respond to Martinez, who is poised to become the nation’s first female Hispanic governor if she wins.

“The ethnic juices are in reverse,” said Jose Garcia, a prominent New Mexico State University political science professor who has endorsed Martinez. “What nobody knows is how much ethnic loyalty is going to prevail.”

Whoever wins, New Mexico is poised to make history with its first female governor. And both want that distinction. On the campaign trail, they say education is their top priority while quickly defining their differences – both with each other and with Richardson.

Denish said she’d break from her current boss by make spending cuts everywhere but education. She said she’s more in tune to the need for energy development than the governor, citing her background growing up in Hobbs, the center of the state’s oil industry, and working in Farmington, where natural gas is primarily produced.

And unlike Richardson, Denish said she’s not planning to run for president. “I have no further ambition,” she said. “I want to be governor for the state of New Mexico. I’m not planning to run for anything else.”

Martinez said she doubts Denish can fulfill her campaign promises to expand schooling statewide for pre-kindergarten, especially considering the record budget deficit.

“We have to cut out the waste and fraud that exists within our state government,” she said. “We have to cut back on all that.”

Martinez also contends part of the state’s budget problems can be turned around if Richardson’s policies on climate change and water pollution are reversed. Both have driven industry out of the state, she said, removing a critical revenue stream.

“We can certainly impact the oil and gas industry making sure that what we have left stays here and what we have lost hopefully will return,” she said.

The two candidates offer differing stances on the science linking humans to global warming. Denish said climate change is from “population increases, humans and the machines they use.”

But Martinez said she’s skeptical when it comes to the role humans play in the changing climate. “I’m not sure the science completely supports that,” she said.

Denish and Martinez are also battling over who has the appropriate executive experience.

“I’ve taken essentially what was a meaningless office and made it purposeful,” Denish said of her current job as lieutenant governor. ”She’s put people in jail. She’s never created a job.”

Martinez countered she’s won reelection three times in a southern New Mexico county where Democrats outnumber Republicans three-to-one. She’s done that with leadership skills honed as the DA in charge of an 84-person staff that works regularly with the state legislature.

“I’m someone who can bring experts together, bring people together who are experts in their field,” she said. “We do all that as a prosecutor: DNA, forensics, forensic pathology, engineering. You bring the experts together to assess the value of tough cases.”

The two candidates also are at odds over former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s role in the campaign. Martinez, who scored an endorsement from Palin, crushed her GOP opponents in the June primary.

Denish said Palin’s support could be a liability in the general election.

“I wouldn’t want an endorsement from somebody who quit their job in the middle of the run,” she said. “Being governor is a tough job.”

But Martinez didn’t blink when asked if Palin’s backing could hurt her chances as she campaigns before a broader, statewide electorate.

“I’ll take the support of any individuals that support me, Democrats, Republicans, independents, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, whoever,” she said. “I’ll take the support of individuals who stand by me in the desire to make sure we turn New Mexico around. I’d never reject anyone’s support.”