Election As Governor, 1966 and 1968
Cargo was considered a liberal Republican, more in the Nelson Rockefeller mode than in the Barry Goldwater image. He had difficulty winning the Republican primaries in both 1966 and 1968. Each time he faced the more conservative Clifford J. Hawley of Santa Fe. In 1966, Cargo won with 17,836 (51.8 percent) to Hawley's 16,588 (48.2 percent). He improved in 1968, when he defeated Hawley, 28,014 (54.9 percent) to 23,052 (45.1 percent).
Cargo won the general election of 1966, when he barely defeated Democrat T.E. Lusk. Cargo received 134,625 votes (51.7 percent) to Lusk's 125,587 (48.3 percent). Running again in 1968, Cargo won by an even smaller margin, 160,140 (50.5 percent) to Democrat Fabian Chavez, Jr.,'s 157,230 ballots (49.5 percent).
As governor, Cargo started the state film commission, which has brought millions of dollars in revenue to the state of New Mexico. Cargo established ties to Hollywood and was even asked to appear in several films. In 1971 he made a cameo appearance in Bunny O'Hare, which starred Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine. During his first campaign for governor, he was known as "Lonesome Dave."
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