Mitt Romney

Dan Billings, a Waterville attorney and Republican activist, said that while Gov. Sarah Palin brings balance to the Republican ticket with John McCain, people still will vote for the top of the ticket, not the Vice Presidential pick.

If she came to Maine to campaign, however, residents would relate to her.

“Gov. Palin in Alaska has done a lot of things Barack Obama claims he wants to do,” Billings said, such as working across the aisle and getting past presidential politics.

“Most people she’s had problems with in Alaska are Republicans,” he added.

Check back tomorrow morning to view my sketchpad for day three of the Democratic National Convention, and go to my national blog to follow convention coverage by cartoonists from around the country.

Scott Kauffman, vice chairman of the Maine Republican Party and delegate to the Republican National Convention, said he doesn’t think it is likely that John McCain will pick a pro-choice running mate.

“He’s going through the motions and putting out information,” Kauffman said. “From what I can see, Republicans don’t think it would be a good idea.”

Several pro-choice running mate choices have materialized in the press, including Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, and former Gov. Tom Ridge (R-Pa.). Media reports conflict on whether Ridge is still in the running.

The latest Critical Insights poll has given incumbent U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Bangor) a 10-point advantage over her Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Tom Allen.

The numbers are as follows: Collins, 50 percent; Allen, 40 percent; Undecided, 9 percent; and refused, 1 percent. They were about the same in the 1st and 2nd congressional districts.

Independent candidate Herb Hoffman was not an option on the poll.

The Critical Insights poll collected the information through 602 telephone interviews between June 1 and June 27. There is a 3.4 percent margin of error at the 90 percent confidence level.

Governor Rendell was attending the National Governor's Association and was asked by Human Events magazine who he thought would make a good VP choice for Senator Obama. In addition to a few of the usual suspects,he also mentioned, George Mitchell --which would be like bringing your dad to freshman orientation.

Governor Rendell was also asked who he thought Senator McCain should pick for his running mate. Rendell said he should go with "a governor with a background in economic issues," citing Mitt Romney as the obvious choice --which would be like bringing your son to an open house at the The Villages.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney endorsed Charlie Summers for Congress today.

Romney, a former presidential candidate, won the Maine Republican caucuses in February before dropping out of the race.

In a statement, Romney said:

"Conservatism's strength is based in the belief in family, the individual, and the goodness of America and Charlie Summers embodies that strength. His experience in the private sector combined with his service as a Maine State Senator, as head of the Small Business Administration in New England, and most recently his service in Iraq make him the ideal person to represent Maine in the United States Congress. Charlie embodies the qualities necessary to effectively represent his constituency from the moment he is sworn-in as Maine's next First District Congressman.

"Today, I am proud to endorse Charlie Summers and I encourage all my Maine supporters to actively campaign and vote for Charlie on June 10th.”

Summers said: "I am honored by Governor Romney's support. Maine voters strongly showed their support for Governor Romney during the March Presidential caucuses and his strength among Maine voters will continue to build the momentum of this campaign through the primary and on to a win in November."

Summers is running as a Republican in the First Congressional District.

Dean Scontras, Summers opponent, has made major in-roads with the conservative base of the party, and the Romney endorsement is an attempt to beat back some of the gains resulting from  Dean's more conservative credentials.

Endorsements are not votes. They provide a nice bump for the campaign, but the only endorsement that matters is on June 10th. 

Schedule? We don't need no stinkin' schedule!

The Maine GOP hierarchy lost control of their own convention timeline. Whether it was the fault of Chairman Mark Ellis and Executive Director Julie O'Brien or the long-winded tendencies of Republican politicians and activists, who can say? Regardless, elections for National Committeeman and Committeewoman moved along at a snail's pace, Olympia Snowe's speech took longer than Astroturf takes to grow, and the House Republican demonstration, in which every candidate each remarked on their upcoming race, competed for most yawns. As a result, Congressional candidates were shortchanged, Mark Ellis turned down his opportunity to address the convention and convention business usually taken up by delegates was turned over to the state committee for future consideration.

At the Maine Republican convention, Mitt Romney talked to the crowd about his endorsement of John McCain, differentiating him from the Democrats in the race. He applauded the Republican Party for uniting themselves around one candidate.