House

Is there any politician in Maine that doesn't have an energy plan?

As far as I can tell we are being told we need more wind mills, more hydroelectric, more oil, less oil, more drilling, less drilling, more nuke plants, no nukes, more conservation, less consumption, more hybrids, less driving, more car pooling, different light bulbs, less speculation, tax credits, more transmission lines, more wood pellet stoves, more weatherization, a tuned up boiler, more solar panels and on and on.......

Herb Hoffman continues to enjoy his 15 minutes of fame which has now been going on for about six weeks, while the Fed UP With Taxes folks make good on step one of the People’s Veto. They are a few of this week's winners in PolitickerME's Winners & Losers list. | CLICK HERE

Chellie Pingree has a love life.

I know -- I was always under the impression that politicians didn't do those things. Anyway, it would appear that Ms. Pingree does do those things and she does them with Don Sussman. I read all about it in the Bollard, which is a nifty local paper in Portland with a very talented writer in Chris Busby. (note: The July 2008 edition)

Great, end of story.

Not exactly -- You see, in politics when you don't quite answer a reporters question in a forthcoming manner, that triggers a reaction in the pituitary gland which in turn forces a reporter to track even the blandest of stories like a lion on the hunt. Bottom line: Someone's going down for the kill.

The following are the basics from the most recent round of campaign finance reports for Congressional candidates. The basics for U.S. Senate candidates Susan Collins and Tom Allen can be found here.

Since the primary election fell in the middle of the second quarter, the first number listed reflects the first part of the quarter, April 1 to May 21. The second number is the second part of the quarter, May 22 to June 30. The third number is either the total between the two halves, or the cycle-to-date total.

The Maine Education Association has endorsed Tom Allen for U.S. Senate and Chellie Pingree for the First Congressional District.

Following the endorsement of Allen, incumbent Susan Collins’ campaign fired off a press release announcing her support from members of the education community.

The MEA is the union representing 25,000 teachers in Maine. The endorsements are based on candidate interviews and voting records.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama and U.S. Senate incumbent Susan Collins, R-Bangor, are in the lead in Maine, according to a poll recently released by the Pan Atlantic SMS Group of Portland.

Also, voters disapprove of the Oxford County Casino project and many people remain undecided whether to send Republicans or Democrats to the Legislature.

The poll was conducted between June 10 and June 18 and interviewed 400 Mainers identified as likely to vote in the November election. 

Here are some highlights of the poll:

U.S. Rep. Tom Allen (D-Portland) proposed a new energy plan on Wednesday, calling on oil companies to start drilling on the untapped land they hold under lease.

Allen, who is seeking the U.S. Senate seat of Susan Collins (R-Bangor), outlined his plan at a press conference at a private residence in Bangor.

Allen blamed high gasoline and heating oil costs for stiffling the American economy and afflicting working families. He urged oil companies to make better use of their resources to help remedy the problem:

"The oil industry currently holds leases on more than 90 million acres of land, yet they are drilling on less than a third of this acreage. We need a sensible drilling strategy that forces Big Oil to start drilling on the other 68 million acres under lease to increase the supply of American oil in the marketplace," Allen said.

"If we harness American ingenuity for energy independence, we can achieve our goals while making sure we don't increase global warming or create other environmental problems. We can do far better than we're doing now and have to be bold in our actions so that future generations aren't held hostage by foreign oil."

U.S. Rep. Tom AllenDemocracy for America, a progressive political action group, has endorsed U.S. Rep. Tom Allen for Senate, and Chellie Pingree for Congress, both Democrats.

DFA will provide donations from progressives and volunteers for grassroots outreach for both campaigns.

Allen is running against incumbent Susan Collins. This leaves his seat open, and there Pingree is challenging Republican Charlie Summers.

Congressional candidate Chellie Pingree: Campaign photoIn case you missed it, check out reporter Paul Carrier’s piece in the Portland Press Herald where he examines the relationship between Hannah and Chellie Pingree, and what might happen if Chellie is elected to Congress and Hannah is elected Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives.

Carrier writes:

Poor Mark Lawrence. Maybe if he'd laid off the impeachment talk during his campaign, he would have finished higher than 5th place.