Also writing at
The Last Days of Paul LePage
Follow @BruceBourgoine on Twitter
The race for Maine Governor rebooted today. Tea party incumbent Paul LePage and challenger Democratic nominee Congressman Mike Michaud have been neck and neck in the polls with Independent Eliot Cutler, who came in second in 2010, trailing in the teens.
At 11:00 this morning a gathering of high profile supporters of Mr. Cutler was planned at which they would switch their support to Mr. Michaud in part to help torpedo Mr. LePage's possible plurality reelection. However at 10:30, Mr. Cutler told the Maine press that he would have an important announcement about the election.
It was widely assumed that Mr. Cutler would be facing the inevitable and withdrawing from the race. He did not. Instead he said he was a realist and acknowledged the current state of the race. He went on to state that he was still in the race but "released" his supporters to vote their conscience. He also, as an aside, pitched ranked-choice balloting in the future.
The supporters then held their media event across town and in endorsing Mr. Michaud expressed that they felt that Mr. Cutler did not go far enough. Then the other shoe dropped. Senator Angus King an Independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats and Mr. Cutler's highest profile endorser took him up on that supporter "release" and promptly issued a strong endorsement of Mr. Michaud.
This really reboots the Maine Governor race and gives Mr. Michaud a cleaner path toward defeating Mr. LePage. The Republican camp has been concentrating its resources on pitching red meat to its base, planning on a three-way vote split (actually a two-way split of the progressive vote) to win, and even had the Republican Governors' Association running ads to boost Mr. Cutler to drive down Mr. Michaud's numbers.
While today's rapid moving events should not be assumed as giving Mr. Michaud a lock on the race, it is certainly leaning much greater to the Democrat's benefit. Tomorrow, President Barack Obama will join Mike Michaud in Portland to help seal the deal.