So in case you didn't hear the news, this happened this week:
http://www.sfgate.com/...
Maine gubernatorial hopeful Eliot Cutler received an endorsement Monday from a fellow independent, U.S. Sen. Angus King, as his campaign attempts to gain momentum in the polls ahead of Election Day.
The senator and former governor said there are real advantages to having an independent governor, who could break down partisan barriers and make the best appointments, regardless of party affiliation.
King also praised Cutler as a problem solver and consensus builder and expressed confidence that the attorney from Cape Elizabeth, who trails Republican Gov. Paul LePage and Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud in the polls, will come out on top in November.
"If the people of Maine look at these candidates and say: "Who will be the best governor? Who has the ideas? Who has the thinking? Eliot wins," King told reporters in Portland.
King's endorsement of Cutler in the 2010 race for governor just days before Election Day coincided with the independent's late surge over his Democratic opponent Libby Mitchell. Cutler lost to LePage by just 10,000 votes.
This time around, Cutler is again largely self-financing his campaign and has had to combat the idea that he is a "spoiler," who will split the liberal vote in November. On Monday, Cutler again dismissed the idea that his presence in the race would secure another LePage victory. - SF Gate, 8/18/14
Here's a little background info on how Cutler threw the race to LePage:
http://www.theatlantic.com/...
The drama of the 2010 Maine governor’s race was that Cutler was running as an Independent, against the Tea Party Republican Paul LePage and the Democrat Libby Mitchell. In most states, third-party candidacies are pipe dreams. Maine is an exception. Angus King, who succeeded Olympia Snowe as U.S. senator, is an independent who had previously been a popular independent governor. James Longley, governor in the 1970s, was also an independent.
Paul LePage is about as right-wing a governor as now serves anywhere in the U.S., and is considerably to the right of the other major statewide officials, Senators King and Susan Collins. (Maine does not have a lieutenant governor.) LePage made it into office with only 38.3 percent of the vote, as Cutler and Mitchell split the anti-Tea Party majority. Eliot started out behind; closed fast in the final month of the campaign; and ended up just short of LePage, with 36.5 percent. That was almost twice the Democratic total (19 percent), and by most accounts he would have won if the race had gone on a few days longer—or if fewer people had voted early, before it became clear that he was the stronger anti-LePage candidate.
This year the Democrats have put a more concerted effort into fielding a candidate, Representative Mike Michaud. The Democrats argue that they offer the better prospect for getting rid of LePage; Cutler argues that he would be the more policy-experienced and ambitious governor. - The Atlantic, 8/20/14
So the question now is can Cutler spoil this race again, handing LePage a second term? It's possible:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
In Cutler’s opinion, voters in a three-way race think tactically for months in the lead-up to voting. They may default to their party’s candidate in early polling, but when “they are confronted with a real choice ... they will generally break towards a viable Independent candidate in Maine.”
His biggest concern was that many voters would cast their ballots early. Cutler argued that Democrats and Republicans wanted Mainers to “vote first and ask questions later” and his goal was to discourage voters from casting votes until after the debates are held in mid-October.
The independent candidate, who has loaned $400,000 to his campaign, also criticized Michaud for being “a hostage to his donors” and went after his Democratic rival for taking contributions from “special interest PACs” in Congress. He detailed the unacceptable groups like the NRA, big sugar and Monsanto, from which Michaud had taken donations from. In contrast, he simply described LePage as “a hostage to his ideology.”
While one connected Maine Republican pointed out there are quite a few Cutler voters who have LePage as their second choice, the race is still a referendum on the incumbent. And, although polls show Cutler doing five percentage points better than Michaud in a head to head race against LePage, that’s a theoretical situation. Not the reality of the three-way race that Mainers face in November. While Cutler argues that the existing political parties will begin to collapse, that new era is not going to arrive by Election Day. In the meantime, the apparent anti-LePage majority of Maine voters will have to make some very tough decisions. - The Daily Beast, 8/21/14
It remains to be seen if voters will fall for Cutler again but it's clear that the GOP is afraid of Michaud and resorted to this stupid attack:
http://bangordailynews.com/...
Maine Democrats and the campaign of Mike Michaud are becoming increasingly agitated over a series of attacks being made by their Republican rivals in the governor’s race.
Michaud, Maine’s 2nd District U.S. congressman, is the Democratic nominee in a hotly contested campaign against incumbent Republican Gov. Paul LePage and independent Eliot Cutler.
Lizzy Reinholt, Michaud’s campaign spokeswoman, took issue Wednesday with a new mailer paid for by the Maine Republican Party that attacks Michaud for a bill he sponsored as a member of the state Senate in 2002. The legislation, which passed with strong bipartisan support and was signed by then Gov. Angus King, allowed Great Northern Paper Co. in East Millinocket to sell off its hydroelectric power facilities.
The mailer states the papermaker has laid off 212 workers since the bill passed into law 12 years ago. But Democrats said Republicans — including Rick Bennett, then Senate president and now chairman of the Maine Republican Party — supported the bill as well because it protected jobs at the time. Democrats also argue there’s no direct correlation between the legislation and the loss of jobs.
According to legislative records, the bill passed with unanimous support in the state Senate and was approved by the House on a 118-13 vote. That vote included only two Republicans voting against the measure while 11 Democrats did.
The law change, according to reports at the time, was designed to help keep the company solvent and prevent job losses. But according to the mailer being sent by the GOP, the bill accelerated the mill’s financial woes and led to the elimination of jobs.
A release from Michaud’s campaign lamented the Maine GOP’s “contempt for the facts.”
The campaign highlighted Bennett’s support for the bill, noting he shared the Senate presidency with Michaud in 2001-02 in a power-sharing agreement the two worked out when the Senate was split evenly between Republicans and Democrats — with one independent. - Bangor Daily News, 8/20/14
What is encouraging is the fact that progressive groups are pushing to help make sure Michaud is the victor and overcomes Cutler's spoiler role:
http://www.pressherald.com/...
A political action committee dedicated to protecting women’s health and reproductive rights will make an unprecedented investment in Maine’s gubernatorial and legislative races this year.
The Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund will spend at least $500,000 to elect Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud as governor and dozens of other candidates to the Maine Legislature, the group announced Thursday. That investment dwarfs the $48,000 that the group spent in the last five elections combined.
The announcement underscores the importance of securing a strong turnout by women in the November election – especially for Michaud and independent Eliot Cutler. Both have been highlighting their stances on abortion and other issues important to women in the three-way battle with incumbent Republican Paul LePage.
In 2010, women represented 53.4 percent of registered voters in Maine but accounted for 60 percent of the electorate, according to the Maine Women’s Policy Center.
PAC Chairwoman Nicole Clegg said in a written statement that stakes for women are high this year, especially in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows closely held corporations to opt out of paying for birth control under the Affordable Care Act.
The court also ruled that some forms of free-speech buffer zones around abortion clinics are unconstitutional.
Clegg criticized LePage, who opposes abortion but has been a strong advocate against domestic violence, for vetoing the bipartisan Women’s Health Initiative, which would have given 13,000 low-income women access to preventive health care and birth control. He also vetoed legislation to expand Medicaid five times and reduced funding for family planning services, she said. - Press Herald, 8/14/14
We can win this race but we can't take anything for granted. Click here to donate and get involved with Michaud's campaign:
http://www.michaud2014.com/