No time for on-the-job training

As you might guess, I've discovered that being a campaign manager seems to preclude having time to blog. :)

But when I saw this op-ed by Gordon Weil, I knew I wanted to share it.

In his piece, Weil says:

If you don’t know your way around Augusta, however, I don’t want you learning during your first year on the job. That’s the time when a new governor is most likely to get new proposals through the Legislature.

That’s why Mills says that, unlike some other candidates, he won’t need another government audit. He says he knows what the problems are.

You can read the entire op-ed here: Political promises become reality only if governor, Legislature agree.

And if you haven't seen Peter showing he already knows where the audits are, check out this two and a half minute video clip:

It takes hard work to be effective

Clearly I'm biased toward Peter Mills. I honestly believe he's the best choice to be Governor of Maine.

And events like tonight serve to convince me even more.

We had a wonderful but long day in North Yarmouth. Those kind folks held a delicious bean supper and gubernatorial debate. Peter is so good at explaining his plans and the crowd responded well.

When we got in the truck for the drive home, I was ready for a nap. But I was driving so staying awake was imperative.

But Peter could've slept. He'd been in Aroostock County the night before getting home very early this morning. He'd been on stage for hours.

But he didn't. Instead, he whipped out his laptop and energetically set to work on legislation. One of our senators, Libby Mitchell, has an awful paid sick leave bill that will be voted on in committee on Monday. Peter's leading the opposition. So rather than nap, he explored the Maine statutes to show how this bill isn't even needed.

Amazing. I know he's been repeatedly effective at stopping the State from saddling our kids with hundreds of millions of dollars of debt. Now I see the hard work and long hours it takes to be effective.

As for me, I'm home now and I'm going to bed.

Scott Brown and the "Red Tide"

Having attended lots of Republican caucuses in the last few weeks, many of Maine's Republican gubernatorial hopefuls are touting a so-called "Red Tide" moving up I-95.

The tide varies but it usually starts with the election of a Republican governor in Virginia after Virginia overwhelmingly voted for Obama. It then sometimes touches on the election of a Republican in NJ. But it invariably culminates in the election of Massachusetts's Scott Brown to the Senate.

The implication is, this is our year in Maine. I'd agree. We do have a great shot at electing a Republican governor this year.

But what seems to be overlooked, is that the Republicans of this "Red Tide" are moderates. People willing to work across the aisle. Just look at Scott Brown's first important Senate vote. He sided with only 5 Republican senators to vote with the Democrats on the "jobs bill."

They also seem to overlook that another two of those five votes came from our own Senators. Senators very popular with our state.

I do believe people are more open to electing a Republican than they have been in a long time. We in Maine have a real shot at having a Republican governor. But not if Maine Republicans keep up our tradition of nominating candidates that couldn't possibly win a general election in Maine.

Personally, I'd like to have a Republican in the Blaine House. That's why I'm supporting Peter Mills.

Peter is a fiscally responsible and conservative candidate. He espouses and works tirelessly to bring fiscal sanity to the state. And like, Senators Snowe, Collins, and Brown, his voting record shows he is willing to break ranks with Republicans from time-to-time. Perhaps because of this he's consistently popularly elected by one of the biggest districts east of the Mississippi. His district was "given" to the Democrats in 1991. But he keeps winning elections--voted in by union employees even after he makes tough decisions that don't benefit their own unions.

Four years ago, the major papers in Maine all agreed that if Peter had been nominated in 2006, we'd have a Republican governor now. Rather than the federal stimulus funds being used to prop up a bloated DHHS, we'd have had the federal stimulus funds going into creating jobs and improving our infrastructure.

Let's not make that mistake again. We have a lot of good candidates vying for the Republican nomination on June 8. People are open to electing Republicans. But let's not misread the tea leaves. They won't vote for just any Republican that's offered up.

Clearly I'm biased. But as I see it, only Peter Mills is poised to bring the Republican party a victory in November.

If you're not familiar with Peter, why not meet him? We're holding a series of "Meet & Greets" over the coming weeks. The next four are:

• Blue Hill: Sunday, Feb 28 at noon
  
• Damariscotta: Monday, March 1 at 5 p.m.
  
• Waterville: Wednesday, March 3 at 5:30 p.m.
  
• Wells: Thursday, March 4 at 5 p.m.
  

Caucuses: party politics at the most local level

caucus:
a. A meeting of the local members of a political party especially to select delegates to a convention or register preferences for candidates running for office.

This weekend, the Mills for Maine team is attempting to cover around 20 Republican caucuses!

Today, I went to caucuses in Liberty, Jackson, and Unity. The biggest had about 20 voters, the smallest about 4.

At each of these gatherings, voters nominate delegates to the state convention, county committee, and town committee. And at each of these, local voters have the chance to personally hear from the candidates running for office or their proxies.

It's also interesting to see how we all try to build party unity while showcasing our candidates distinctives. It's nice to see how we all sign each others nomination forms. (I'm glad that Matt Jacobson originally championed this. All are now saying it.)

All in all, these are very civil affairs. Clearly we don't all agree on everything. But we do agree that we want a stronger Republican representation in the Maine government. I'm sure the race will get more rancorous as we move beyond the nominations.

But for now, it's great getting signatures, collecting $5 qualifying contributions, and introducing local voters to our candidates.

And getting to see the beauty of our great state as we drive from caucus to caucus.

Fighting for Maine taxpayers

As campaign director for Mills for Maine, I've been at a lot of Republican events and have been able to listen to all the Republican gubernatorial hopefuls.

One thing that makes Peter stand out from the others is that, where they're saying what they will do at the state level, Peter's the only one that can show what he has done. In Peter's latest email, he says:

Last week I delivered the Maine Senate Republican Radio Address. Once again Baldacci is trying to borrow money to pay for his current budget. He did this in 2003 when he tried to permanently sell off the state's liquor business. He did it again in 2005 when he tried to borrow $447M by selling off the Lottery for 14 years. We stopped him both times, the latter with the well-known "Don't Mortgage ME" campaign.

Now he wants to borrow money from future taxpayers to fund a longevity benefit to the most senior members of the public unions, to those who helped get him elected, to those who will work on Democratic campaigns in 2010. None of the younger people in the unions, those with families, will be able to share in this benefit. What does this say about the Democrats' priorities?

Peter led the fight in 2003. Peter led the "Don't Mortage ME" fight in 2005. He even stood up to the unions in 2008...and won.

Now Peter's standing up to Gov. Baldacci's attempt to benefit union cronies.

Given his record, I bet he'll win this one too.

And that's why he's the right Republican to be governor of Maine. The other candidates can say what they want, but Peter's the only one with a successful track record of a 15-year battle to bring fiscal responsibility to state government. He's already saved hundreds of millions of dollars for Maine's tax payers.

He'll do that even more when elected Governor.

You can hear Peter's entire Republican radio address here on the MillsForMaine.com site.

While there, you can also sign up to receive Peter's email updates:
http://www.millsformaine.com/join.

Peter Mills listed as the Republican front runner

There are people who are professional political pundits, and they know their stuff.

So it's particularly encouraging when a site like the Center for Politics considers the Maine gubernatorial race.

It's even more encouraging, when it lists Peter Mills as the frontrunner in the Republican nomination!

You can see the post at: http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/ljs2010020401/

19 caucuses all over the state

Yesterday was quite a day! The Mills for Maine covered 19 with Peter at as many as possible and great volunteers speaking on his behalf at even more.

The Bangor Daily News posted this article about a straw poll in Bangor. Apparently, from the 200 people in attendance, Steve Abbot got 24 votes; Paul Lepage 10; Peter Mills & Bill Beardsley 3 each. Les Otten & Brian Polonquin didn't get any.

I think the real story is that only 40 out of 200 voted. That means 80% of the most likely voters are still undecided.

That's good for us. People are really resonating with Peter's theme of fixing the state and rebuilding Maine.

Road to the Blaine House

It's been a full week with great events. It's fun being around such a diverse group of people who are ready for a change and convivced Peter's the one to bring that change about.

If you haven't gotten to meet him yet, Time Warner is airing the first in a new series by Mal Leary. The series, "Road to the Blaine House," will feature Peter in it's premiere episode tonight at 6:30.

I don't have TW but I'd love to hear how it is!

TW and Mal Leary don't seem to have anything on the web about this new show but MPBN posted a bit on their Maine Headline News page.

Mills projected to win in Maine

Ok, so it's really early to be doing projections. With 20+ candidates in the field, there is a lot of winnowing yet to be done.

But that didn't stop the folks at PoliticalDog101.com. Acknowledging the crowded field, they still project Peter Mills to be the next governor of Maine.

You can see the post here SE on the Political Races in Maine.

A new adventure

This week I became the campaign director for Peter Mill's run for governor of Maine!

He's the smartest politician I've seen in a long time. I've long admired Peter's ability to comprehend issues, navigate through them, and develop a plan to fix them. He's the type of Republican that can get elected in Maine. And he's representative of the traditional Republican party, before it got hijacked by social issues.

In her book It's My Party Too, Republican Christine Todd Whitman makes a distinction between traditional conservatives and social fundamentalists. I joined the Republican party because I'm for conservative fiscal policy and less government. But I've been increasingly disenfranchised by my party as it's gotten waylaid by social fundamentalists.

While I agree on many of the issues of social fundamentalists, their agenda seems to result in increasing both government spending and government intervention in our personal lives. I reject both.

The worst part is the self-righteousness that social fundamentalists seem to get drunk with. I reject that too. (Extremist politics seems to be prone to self-righteousness, doesn't it?)

I like Peter's blend of fiscal conservatism and social libertarianism. That's the kind of leadership Maine needs. Peter has great experience running his own business. He also has experience working in state government. So he's uniquely suited to avoid rabbit trails other candidates would be prone to run down. If you listen to some candidates, you'll hear campaign promises that couldn't possibly be fulfilled within the Maine constitution. Peter won't be distracted that way.

He has the courage and integrity needed to lead Maine.

And I'm honored to be able to help him become the next governor of this great state!