Beth Edmonds

Women for Obama: State Sen. Libby Mitchell (D-Vassalboro) speaks at a Maine Women for Obama lunch. Campaign photo.

Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s Maine campaign announced its “Maine Women for Obama” group today.

The group is headed by outgoing Senate President Beth Edmonds (D-Freeport) and state Sen. Libby Mitchell (D-Vassalboro).

Other state co-chairs are: First lady Karen Baldacci, former first lady Mary Hermon, former Maine Senate President Beverly Daggett, Maine House majority leader Hannah Pingree (D-North Haven.)

When it comes to leadership political action committees, two state senators have far more in their coffers than their colleagues.

Bill Diamond (D-Windham) had $31,722 in Diamond PAC, and Libby Mitchell (D-Vassalboro) had $19,657 in the Mitchell Leadership Fund, both as of the last filing period July 22.

Diamond said he will put the PAC money toward his re-election bid and community action programs such as Neighbors Helping Neighbors.

In keeping with the spirit of the ever lengthening campaign cycle, it is time to raise the flag for the 2010 race for Governor. Today, we begin with the Democrats. Steve Rowe. No question about it, the former 4-term House member from Portland and current Attorney General will be on the primary ballot for the democrats. He has his website reserved, has marched in parades this summer from Fort Fairfield to Biddeford and has already lined up key support from political insiders within the democrat ranks.

The Blaine House: Speculation is far and wide as to who will live here after 2010. Politicker photo.The list of those speculated to run for governor in 2010 is wide and far-reaching. During a special session Wednesday, PolitickerME had a chance to catch up with a number of state senators on the list.

When asked, most of them remained mum on their ambitions.

Gov. John Baldacci will be termed out, so the 2010 race will be for an open seat.

The closest thing to an admission from any state senator came from Sen. Peter Mills (R-Skowhegan).

“I probably will,” he said.

Senate President Beth Edmonds: Official photo.At the end of a special session Wednesday, Senate President Beth Edmonds (D-Freeport) slammed down the gavel, likely for the last time.

Following the proceeding, PolitickerME caught up with Edmonds and asked her to reflect on her time in office. The whole conversation is below.

“It’s been amazing being the second woman, and standing on the shoulders of Bev Daggett,” Edmonds said. “I learned a ton about myself and other people. I think the greatest accomplishment is that I really helped heal the wounds between the House and Senate, and got us working together more often than not, which wasn’t the case previously.”

The Center for Responsive Politics found this week that while many perceive John McCain as the candidate backed by the oil companies, Barack Obama gets his share as well.

The center found that of the two major party candidates, McCain benefits the most from the industry itself, however Obama gets more from individual donors who are employees of the the largest companies in the industry.

This distinction was made in Maine today as the two state parties exchanged jabs over energy prices, each saying the other’s candidate should do something to bring immediate relief to citizens.

See also: McCain's state director to start Monday

Early last year, before “Obama-mania” became mainstream among Democrats, Maine House Speaker Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, got a signed copy of Barack Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope, in the mail.

It was his chief of staff, Toby McGrath, who had arranged for the book to be sent, and Cummings credits him for leading him to the candidate who would become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

McGrath started a new job last week as state director for the Obama campaign. McGrath has been volunteering for Obama since February of 2007.

(Photo: Toby McGrath (center), the new state director for Barack Obama's campaign, talks with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and state Sen. Peggy Rotundo in Lewiston Friday.)

Click here for a previous report on the issue.

In the last legislative session, state lawmakers approved measures that made it 30 percent harder for candidates for governor to qualify for public financing. They also required all gubernatorial candidates to be audited by the Ethics Commission.

Lawmakers also asked Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the commission, to study further improvements to public financing in gubernatorial elections.

At a public hearing Friday morning, a handful of proponents – mostly the usual suspects – said that the most recent round of changes should play out in 2010 before any more are made.

Cross current state House Speaker Glenn Cummings off the list for potential 2010 gubernatorial candidates.

The University of Pennsylvania has accepted Cummings into its doctoral program for higher education. Once completed, Cummings said he would like to get a job as a president of a university or college.

Several Democratic legislators are eyeing leadership slots for the next term. PolitickerME hopes to find out who’s eyeing leadership slots on the Republican side this week.

The convention floor is clear and delegates have disbursed to the various parties – all of which started three hours late.

Before the final speaker came out, convention chair Beth Edmonds announced the final delegate tally – 15 delegates from Maine will represent Barack Obama in Denver, and nine will represent Hillary Clinton. The results of all the other votes – for national delegate slots and DNC members – will be announced tomorrow.

The Democratic Convention appeared to be running smoothly up until lunchtime, when chaos erupted. At that point counties broke off into caucuses where voting was to take place on national delegates, presidential electors, state committee slots and DNC positions.