Chaos in New Mexico

There was a time when New Mexico's $2,550 filing fee kept candidates for the U.S. Senate to a perhaps unfair, but undeniably merciful minimum. Recently, however, the fee was declared unconstitutional, loosing a flood of 40 filings before the closing date last week. The throng of candidates wanting to be Senator from New Mexico includes a wrestling promoter, a university professor, an artist-philosopher, an airline mechanic and an assortment of housewives.

Other candidacies also were opened up by the ruling, and 15 citizens have entered the race for the state's two congressional seats. The most arresting is a former New York Playboy Bunny, who several years ago changed her name to Sparkle Plenty "to create a new image." Formerly Cheryl Boone of Coaldale, Pa., Candidate Plenty, 28, faces some problems in convincing her neighbors in Santa Fe of the seriousness of her campaign, despite her memorable slogans: "Put a little Sparkle in Congress" and "We all need Plenty."

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