It’s the evening before the voter registration deadline of Oct. 7. Night students and maintenance workers trickle through the UNM campus. Just a few hours ago, walkways and bus stops swarmed with canvassers and campaigners. Have these crusaders for partisanship laid down their pens until the next presidential election?

Our full Election Guide, complete with endorsements, bond issues and propositions, hits stands Thursday, Oct. 30. But for those who are voting early, follow this link to help you decide your vote if you just can’t wait.

Central New Mexico gets hit with ... ? What did someone call the Drunk Busters Hotline to report? How much does gas cost in Burque? Spaceport firm Virgin Galactic turns down a big offer.

It's strange that after looking at something long enough, you cease to feel anything about it. That kind of desensitization is exactly what happened to me over the course of a few hours at a gay male strip club. By the time my companions and I left that filthy, filthy place, the initial heart-sinking embarrassment of witnessing such debauched hilarity was gone. For a spell, watching naked men writhe around on stage became normal.

Ray Suarez can tell New Mexico isn't normal.

"It's not like other parts of the country, and it's not even like the places that border it," says the senior correspondent for the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." "It's a place apart in good and interesting ways."

The city’s code compliance official previously ruled that the Church of Scientology needed a conditional use permit for its proposed Downtown hub. At the Oct. 6 meeting, the church appealed the decision, arguing that it should instead receive a permissive use permit to convert the Gizmo building at Fourth Street and Central into a Scientology center. A conditional use permit requires holding a public hearing with neighborhood input, unlike a permissive permit. Councilors voted to uphold the code compliance official’s ruling as consistent with the 2010 Downtown Sector Plan.

As Election Day approaches, political commercials are tossing out labels like hand grenades. The word "liberal" is uttered in the same tone of voice as "leper." "Conservative" is used to imply a total detachment from modern times. But what do these divisive labels really mean? Are you voting Republican because you think "liberal" is a dirty word? Are you pulling a straight Democratic lever in the voting booth because you don't want to be labeled "conservative"? Maybe you should find out exactly what those words mean.

Dateline: Brazil—If, for some reason, Barack Obama doesn’t become the next President of the United States, at least he’s got a shot in Brazil. Eight, in fact. A grand total of eight candidates in Brazil’s upcoming local elections have adopted the name “Barack Obama,” hoping to catch some attention in the notoriously crowded races. Obama isn’t alone, either. More than 200 hopefuls contesting the municipal polls this weekend have renamed themselves after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the country’s popular president, who maintains an 80 percent approval rating. Brazilian election law allows candidates to either register under their own name or choose a new one. Among the more outlandish candidates running for various offices this year are “Elephant Without a Tail,” “Germany in the Lorry,” “Golden Fork,” “King of the Cuckolds,” “Kung Fu Fatty” and “The Second King of Prawns.” Although no Brazilian candidate has adopted the name of Obama rival John McCain, there is one “Bill Clinton,” a “DJ Saddam” and three Bin Ladens (John Bin Laden, Chico Bin Laden and Luis Bin Laden). Claudio Henrique dos Anjos, who is running for mayor of Belford Roxo, said he changed his name to Claudio Henrique-Barack Obama because, “I am Black and I wore a suit on television and people started to tell me I was just like that Barack Obama guy in the United States.”

Thanks for finally covering some of the 14 third-party presidential candidates. Alternative candidates don’t spoil elections. They bring up many good issues for debate and inspire voters with choices. The real spoilers are nonvoters and the media shutout of third parties.