CALLER:  Right now today, Rush.

RUSH:  What’s happening?

CALLER: I’m in Albuquerque at the convention center. He’s appearing here seven o’clock this evening.  I came about eight hours early so I could get on the scene and take a look at the gathering of folks.  And it’s palpable, Rush. It’s palpable. The activity, the people — and I’ve never seen so many normal people gathered in the center of Albuquerque as I am seeing today.

RUSH:  And this is for a Trump rally at the convention center tonight? Is that what you’re saying?

CALLER:  There’s a Trump rally at the convention center, and the interesting thing is, he’s been shunned by the Republican leadership of New Mexico.  You know, the Trump campaign had to dig around and find a different brand of conservative than most people are talking about these days.  It seems like everybody’s got some sort of lock on conservatism as to what it is.  And in some people’s book, it just does not fit Donald Trump.

RUSH:  Well, Jay, how is he being “shunned” by the Republican leadership there?  How does that manifest?

CALLER:  Well, prime example: The governor, Susana Martinez, has stated publicly that she’s too busy to attend the rally or even to meet with Donald Trump while he’s in town.  I think that’s a serious slap in the face at the many, many Republicans that came to elect her, as well as a number of Democrats who crossed the line to elect her — many of whom, I’m sure, will be supporters of Donald Trump.

RUSH:  Well, I know she endorsed Rubio.  But he’s —

CALLER:  Well, yeah.

RUSH: He’s out of the race.  So is everybody else out of the race.  She’s refusing to attend this thing? Now, is this a Trump rally at the convention center? There’s no New Mexico Republican Party even tonight, is it? This is a Trump rally?

CALLER:  No, it’s a Trump rally, and there’s gonna be thousands of people here.

RUSH:  Right, it’s not ’til tonight. But people are already lined up to make sure they get in, and Susana Martinez is not gonna go?

CALLER:  Susana Martinez… What she was quoted as saying on the local radio shows is she’s too busy.

RUSH:  Wow.  Okay.

CALLER:  Too busy.  So, I think it’s kind of a shame.  I called the local folks yesterday and let ’em know my opinion of that.

RUSH:  Well, the reason I took your call, you know, I’ve got the TV monitors on and there’s been some stuff with Susana Martinez today. I didn’t know what it was about because the chyron graphics just say she endorsed Rubio, but it didn’t say anything else — and I wasn’t able to listen to it, obviously, because I am hosting. So you have filled in the blanks. (sigh) I don’t know.  I guess I was a little surprised by it.

But if she hasn’t endorsed him, then I guess it makes sense that she would stay away.  We’ll see what happens here.  It’s still early.  The thing doesn’t start for a few hours now.  The amazing thing is it starts at seven o’clock tonight and there’s people already in line, “more normal people in the center of Albuquerque” than this guy’s ever seen.  What kind of people are normally there, if there’s more “normal people” in the center of Albuquerque there?  Jay, I appreciate the call.