Polling shows Michaud doing much better than expected against both LePage and Cutler as well as an unenrolled Steve Woods running in the Democratic primary.
I'm in.
I am running to be your next governor, and I want you to join our campaign.
If we're going to get back on the right track, we must forge this path together.
A path that honors the hard work of Mainers who get up every day and punch a clock ... who fish our seas and grow our food ... who teach our kids and care for the elderly.
These, and all working people, are the ones who need a champion in Augusta. Someone who will always put the needs of Mainers ahead of partisan, personal attacks.
Michaud is a blue dog but good on labor and veterans
The best sense of who Michaud is comes from LePage and Cutler criticism
LePage carried Lewiston in his 2010 election getting more votes than either Democrat Libby Mitchell or independent Eliot Cutler — who sought election in 2010 and plans to run in 2014.
“While he talks of civility, Michaud’s record is one of extremism and liberalism having supported California Nancy Pelosi with votes up to 96 percent of the time,” LePage’s campaign adviser, Brent Littlefield said in a prepared statement. “While Paul LePage is fixing a hospital welfare debt that existed for years, Michael Michaud is advocating more welfare spending that will send Maine back to the growing welfare of the [Gov. John] Baldacci years.”
Littlefield said the LePage campaign is looking forward to the race against Michaud and Cutler. Littlefield said throughout his political career Michaud has never faced as formidable an opponent as LePage.
Meanwhile, Cutler said Michaud’s official entrance to the race made it even easier for Maine voters to pick him over either the Democrat or a Republican.
“If Paul LePage and Mike Michaud are their parties’ nominees, voters will have a clear choice among three different directions for Maine’s future,” Cutler said in a prepared statement. “We can remain hopelessly stuck, we can go backwards, or we can move forward together to make Maine healthier, smarter, stronger, younger and more prosperous.”
Cutler said both Michaud and LePage should be rejected by the voters.
“Maine voters want something better than the cynical and partisan party politics that have overtaken Washington and Augusta and have denied opportunity to thousands and thousands of Maine people,” Cutler said.
But those in attendance Thursday, especially a large contingent of war veterans, said Michaud had kept his promises as a politician — especially regarding a Veterans Affairs clinic Michaud helped bring to Lewiston. The clinic, which opened in 2012 was supported by Maine’s entire congressional delegation, but Michaud, the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House’s Veterans Affairs Committee, wrote the enabling legislation.
Maurice “Moe” Marquis, a Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War, said he supported Michaud’s bid for the Blaine House but worried about losing Michaud’s advocacy for veterans in Washington.
“I have already told him, ‘Mike we need you over there in D.C.,’” Marquis said. “I wish he could be in both places, he’s just a fantastic person and he’s for us, not only for us veterans but for the people of Maine.”
Several high-profile state Democrats were in attendance for the event as well, including Maine Attorney General Janet Mills and Maine Senate Majority Leader Troy Jackson, D-Allagash. Jackson and state Sen. Emily Cain, D-Orono, have both announced campaigns for Michaud’s congressional seat. Cain was also in attendance Thursday.