Maine's Worst Campaigns of the 21st Century
Submitted by editor on November 11, 2007 - 8:56pm.One of our regular features at PolitickerME.com will be a series of lists that we hope you will enjoy. With the launch of our new Maine-based political news site, we are pleased to offer our list of Maine's Five Best and Worst Camp aigns of the 21st Century.
For the most part, we looked at races that were highly competitive. Some campaigns perform extremely well, but of course, they are expected to win. And there are the so-called sacrificial lambs, running for various offices across the state that are not expected to raise money, go in the mailbox, or even send out press releases; we tried not to bother them.
Remember, this list – like all lists – are highly subjective. And as always, we encourage the feedback of our readers.
1  Jonathan Carter led the way with Maine's new public financing in his gubernatorial bid in 2002. The Green-Independent candidate spent one million dollars in public money and garnered 9% of the vote. That would be about $21 dollars per vote. |
2  With TV ads that looked like they were filmed at Ruby Ridge and over $100,000 dollars in public campaign money diverted to her husband -- you understand why Independent candidate Barbara Merrill's campaign deserves to be on this list. Her campaign peaked the day she announced. |
3  The former Reagan appointee and Congressman from the first district was seen as the front runner as there was early potential for him to capture the middle of the party. He was running against Peter Mills on the left and Chandler Woodcock on the right. He was also the only candidate not using public funding. Big mistake. He raised little money and failed to connect with the voters, finishing third in the three-way race. |
4  She never had a chance against Olympia Snowe, but in 2006 the year of the Republican massacre, you would expect the Democrats to be able to win at least 30% of the vote and not the 20% that the organic farmer and writer managed to scrape together. |
5  It seems unfair to put the folks who wanted to extend term limits on this list, because there wasn't a campaign. Of course if you get a 100 plus Legislators to support a ballot initiative you would think someone had a plan. Apparently not, and the 67% to 33% vote will doom a revisit of this issue for a decade. |
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I notice none of these
I notice none of these poofers has an occupation listed. Oversight or telling observation?
That's really the problem with Augusta. Go up to the capital and throw a brick in any direction. The person you beam up side the head will have a background in social services, health care, education or insurance. And that's only if you miss all the lawyers, lobbyists and consultants.
What we is more legislators who've held "real jobs" and who know what "real life" is like in Maine. At the very least, we need more people who've sat on local selectboards and know what affect legislative action will have on the towns.
I mean honestly, there are goobers under the dome who still claim they did a good deed with LD 1. Don't even get me started on school and county jail consolidation.
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