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.