Here's something to make you raise your eyebrows:
https://bangordailynews.com/...
Gov. Paul LePage said Wednesday that if the race for the governor’s office were between him and Democratic Congressman Mike Michaud, the governor would win easily.
The incumbent Republican is in a tough, three-way race with Michaud and independent Eliot Cutler, a Cape Elizabeth lawyer and businessman.
LePage told a small group of reporters that a year ago, he believed Cutler’s campaign would help him, but LePage said Wednesday he wished Cutler were no longer in the race.
“I’ll tell you what I really, really believe,” LePage said. “A year ago, I put Eliot on my Christmas card list; this year I took him off. A year ago, I thought he needed to run, but now that I’ve seen the performance that Mike Michaud has made, I wish Cutler wasn’t there, then this election would be over and I absolutely deep down in my heart believe that.”
David Farmer, a spokesman for Michaud’s campaign, said the Republican Party had launched a series of advertisements touting Cutler’s campaign.
“Gov. LePage is in trouble regardless of who is in the race, but the facts speak for themselves if the Republican Party is spending money to support Eliot Cutler’s campaign,” Farmer said.
He said it was a desperate move to push up Cutler’s numbers in hopes of pulling Michaud’s down. “Their candidate has a hard ceiling and they know that and they are trying to find a different route to victory,” Farmer said.
Farmer said the move was reminiscent of the 2012 U.S. Senate race when the Republican Party spent money in support of Democratic candidate Cynthia Dill, a former state senator. Dill was in a three-way race with independent Angus King, who won, and Republican Charlie Summers, who finished second.
Michaud and LePage have been running neck and neck in the polls, with Cutler trailing. - Bangor Daily News, 10/23/14
What's interesting is the GOP wants Cutler in the race because they feel he hurts Michaud more than LePage:
http://thetippingpoint.bangordailynews.com/...
Over the weekend, registered Democrats in the Portland area began receiving a strange flier from the Maine Republican Party in the mail. While ostensibly an attack piece against Congressman Mike Michaud, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, the mailer also provides positive information about independent candidate Eliot Cutler. Based on the content of the flier and its recipients, the mailing is clearly designed to promote Cutler’s candidacy at Michaud’s expense, to the ultimate benefit of Republican Governor Paul LePage.
LePage has previously said that Cutler being in the race was the best thing for his re-election and other Republicans have agreed. Conservative radio host Howie Carr discussed the need to support Cutler’s candidacy at a GOP event in February, a month after Republican Governor’s Association executive director Phil Cox laid out the specifics of their calculus, saying: “If Cutler stays in that range [getting 15 to 20 percent of the vote], the governor has a very good chance of winning. If he drops below 15, it presents a more difficult pathway to victory.”
Poll aggregators currently peg Cutler’s support at right around 15 percent, far behind the two major-party candidates but potentially garnering enough support from progressive voters to improve LePage’s chances at re-election.
The mailer cites the Cutler for Maine website, praises Cutler for having “strong management experience” and highlights his progressive positions on gun safety laws and women’s rights. It provides more negative characterizations of Michaud on these issues, failing to note that he holds the same position on gun background checks as the independent candidate and that Michaud was endorsed over Cutler by both NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood for his positions in support of women’s rights. - Bangor Daily News, 10/18/14
And they've been trying to prop up Cutler on this issue:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
And so, according to Maine Democrats, the GOP has been trying to undercut that support by distributing flyers touting Cutler’s record on gay rights. Cutler, a lawyer and an entrepreneur, has been pointing to a series of votes Michaud took in the state legislature that he says denied rights to lesbians and gays, and also points to his own history as a major donor to gay causes.
Michaud, though, had a conservative district to hold on to then. And despite his moderate voting record, he was still accused of favoring “a back door approach for the spread of homosexuality” by social conservatives.
“Cutler, he never ran for office,” Michaud says. “It’s easy to say one thing, but he has never had a history or a record.”
Mainers say that their state has almost an allergy to discussing a candidate’s personal life. And if Michaud’s sexuality did not register, it has been in part, Mainers say, because they have battled it out on LGBT issues over the last decade. A gay marriage bill first passed the legislature in 2009. It was reaffirmed in 2012, and popular support has been steadily building an ever—healthier majority for marriage equality. Now, to most Mainers, these issues are settled.
National gay rights organizations have made Michaud’s race a priority. And even though major gay donors have been reluctant to give money to a race thought to be strictly a local concern, advocates say they are thrilled to see two candidates competing over who is more LGBT-friendly, a mere decade after George Bush ran for president highlighting his opposition to same-sex marriage. - The Daily Beast, 10/24/14
And now Cutler is calling on Michaud to drop out of the race:
https://bangordailynews.com/...
Independent candidate for governor Eliot Cutler has challenged Democratic nominee Mike Michaud to release his voters to Cutler prior to Election Day if Michaud does not think he can beat incumbent Republican Gov. Paul LePage.
The Michaud campaign reacted incredulously to the challenge and said it’s Cutler — who has consistently polled 20 points behind his rivals — who is keeping LePage’s chances alive. Cutler did preface his challenge to Michaud by saying he would encourage his supporters to vote for another candidate if they did not think he could win on Election Day.
Cutler’s challenge to Michaud, which he first made in a forum Thursday night and then again in a news release Friday morning, is part of an ongoing effort by the Cutler campaign to plant doubt among Michaud supporters about the congressman’s chances of defeating LePage.
There is little evidence to support the notion that Cutler’s campaign is seeing a surge. A poll conducted online by the BDN and Ipsos between Oct. 6 and 12, showed Michaud with a lead and Cutler with 16 percent support, about where the independent has been for months. Poll aggregators continue to put Michaud and LePage on average within one point of each other. - Bangor Daily News, 10/24/14
But maybe LePage saw PPP's latest poll and had a change of heart about Cutler:
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/...
Public Policy Polling’s newest Maine survey finds that after three televised debates, the race for governor is still a very tight contest between incumbent Paul LePage and Democrat Mike Michaud. LePage and Michaud each have 40%, with Eliot Cutler trailing at 17%.
Key findings from the survey include:
-Paul LePage continues to be one of the most unpopular governors in the country. Only 43% of voters have a favorable opinion of him to 53% who have a negative one. His numbers among independents are particularly low with only 34% seeing him favorably to 60% who have an unfavorable opinion.
-The biggest factor in this race remaining so close is that Cutler, consistently in a distant third place, is continuing to siphon off enough of the anti-LePage vote to keep the contest in toss-up range.
-Among the voters who support Cutler, 55% say Michaud would be their second choice to just 35% who say LePage would be their second choice. In a head to head contest, Michaud would have a five point lead over LePage, 49 to 44. This is supported by the fact that 73% of Cutler supporters have a negative view of LePage.
-Michaud has the highest favorability rating of the candidates in the race at 47%, followed by LePage at 43%, and Cutler at 39%.
-Michaud leads with: independents (40% Michaud, 28% LePage, 29% Cutler); women (43% Michaud 37% LePage and 17% Cutler); and young people (47% Michaud, 43% LePage 10% Cutler).
Trailing by 23 points with only 11 days to go until the election, there is virtually no way Cutler can overtake LePage and Michaud. But by splitting the anti-LePage vote, the support Cutler is pulling from Michaud could be just enough to re-elect LePage in this razor-thin contest.
PPP interviewed 660 likely voters on October 22nd and 23rd. The margin of error for the poll is +/-3.6%. This survey was conducted on behalf of Maine Conservation Voters Action Fund. - PPP, 10/24/14
Of course it's all about ground game here and unions are working hard for Michaud:
https://bangordailynews.com/...
A leader of the nation’s largest union visited striking FairPoint Communications workers at their picket line Thursday morning, urging them to vote for Democrat Mike Michaud, a fellow union member and former paper millworker.
Liz Shuler, secretary-treasurer for the AFL-CIO, stopped at a picket line early Thursday morning in Portland to visit with and speak to picketers before heading to Brewer to meet with workers there.
Speaking through a bullhorn, Shuler told striking FairPoint workers that she knows what they are going through, having previously worked for a company in Oregon that was bought out by Enron.
“Poor thing,” one union member shouted.
Shuler offered encouragement to the workers who are entering their seventh day on strike, leading many a poncho-clad union member through a chant of “one day longer, one day stronger” on the rainy and windswept morning. The company on Aug. 28 imposed work terms that included frozen pensions, a two-tier wage system that could pay new hires as low as minimum wage and a costlier health care plan. - Bangor Daily News, 10/23/14
And Michaud has a big name on the campaign trail for him:
http://www.wmtw.com/...
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be in Maine on Friday afternoon to campaign for Mike Michaud.
The Democratic Congressman is fighting to take the Blaine House away from Republican Gov. Paul Lepage.
Michaud has received support from Bill Clinton and Michelle Obama.
President Barack Obama is coming to Maine on Thursday to stump for Michaud. - WMTW, 10/24/14
We can still win this race, we just have to get our voters out to the polls. Click here to donate and get involved with Michaud's campaign:
http://www.michaud2014.com/