Several months ago, I noted that conservatives in Maine have plenty of options to reach the governor’s office. Unfortunately, no clear conservative candidate has fully broken out.  Once could say that there are several good conservative options, who say all the “right” things.  Matthew Gagnon of Pinetree Politics thinks, and I agree, that it’s because that’s *all* they’re saying on TV:

[W]hy when there are going to be 6 other candidates who say essentially the exact same thing, is anyone even wasting the money on these ads? They certainly don’t distinguish one candidate from another.  They may marginally raise name ID I suppose, but that is about it.  Airing “priority” ads won’t really move you to the front of the line in a primary like this, since essentially every single Republican shares the same priorities.

This is the year to make the hard case for what really needs to be done, and those with ads out already have not done so.  However, I think this is because the candidates most likely to make such a case have not aired TV ads.  Waterville Mayor Paul LePage, business counsultant Matt Jacobson, and retired Huson University president Bill Beardsley have had a limited media presence, but have published opinions closest to Tea Party sentiments.  LePage and Jacobson seem to be concentrating more on New Media, with regular Facebook posts among other things.

LePage also seems to have the support of much of Maine’s TeaParty movement and is a frequent speaker at these rallies.  Partially due to that support, he has won many county Republican County-Caucus straw polls, but is invisible anywhere else.

Jacobson has aired one radio ad and is the most prolific candidate on Facebook, but again, is invisible anywhere else.

Bill Beardsley entered the race late, and has just now started a campaign theme with radio ads.  He also worked in the Alaska Department of Commerce in the early 80s.  I don’t know what @Achance knows about him….

All three seem to be good conservative candidates, but have not appeared on TV.  TV is expensive, and they’re running against the Establishment(Collins’ Chief-O’S) Steve Abbot or State Senator Peter Mills, and two largely self-funded millionaires in Les Otten and Bruce Poliquin.  As a result, the GOP brand is further tarnished by a bunch of moderate squishes.

Politics in Maine is fractured, obviously.  There was even a recent proposal to split the state in two, between the rural north and Boston-lite south.  When the factions are factioned as they are in this race, a bold leader needs to step forward and say the tough-but-needed things.   Good ideas will be rallying points, bad ones will winnow the field early, providing an opportunity for unity.   The race will be decided clearly on good or bad ideas, instead of each candidate slinking toward the finish-line.  The “big” candidates need to grow a collectve spine.  The Conservative candidates need to bit the bullet and unite, or at least realize the need to pony up for *more* than grass-roots.

With the impending victory of Scott Brown in Massachussett[e]s, morally if not actual, conservatives here in the Northeast feel the winds of Change!™ shifting back in their own direction.  Here in Maine, there is a strong culture of political independence, with more Independents elected governor than Republicans in the last forty years.

The state, and Republicans in particular face a fractured primary.  There are over twenty declared candidates, seven of them in the Republican primary.  As in California, Texas, South Carolina and other states, there is an opportunity here to unite behind a solid conservative.

Here in my opinion, influenced by the quality Maine politics blog PinetreePolitics, and what I could glean from their respective campaign websites.

THE ESTABLISHMENT(Collins, Snow & Co.)

Steve Abbot Is the Establishment frontrunner who’s claim to fame is Senator Susan Collins’ long time Chief-of-Staff, helping her survive the 2008 debacle.  The website has few details on actual policy, concentrating more on endorsements and, apparently, wearing the Establishment label with pride.  He has the endorsement of former gubernatorial candidate and industrialist Peter Cianchette.

Peter Mills is a Navy vet and long-time State Senator.  According to his website, “Republicans and Democrats know him as a coalition builder with practical, independent views and a business-like approach to state finances.”  Voted for Maine’s Gay Marriage Act and has made donations to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.

THE MANAGERS(ala Romney)

Matt Jacobson is a former Air Force pilot and railroad executive, and now leads a consulting firm aimed at improving the state business climate.  While on the record as opposing the Stimulus, he has said that the existing Stimulus “should be spent Intelligently.”  He attended the 2009 Republican Governor’s Association meeting.

Bruce Poliquin is a business manager who has amassed a considerable personal fortune, which he has put to good use in his campaign and conservative causes such as TABOR and the repeal of the Gay Marriage Act.  Was accused of astroturfing a Portland GOP straw-poll when it’s organizer was revealed to be his fundraising chief.  Wins the “I really want this job” award.

Les Otten is a former owner of the RedSox and ski resort mogul.  Has drawn fire for over-leveraging his ski resort, playing both sides with his political donations and for plagiarizing Obama’s “O” logo.

Paul Lepage is Mayor of Waterville and GM of local discount retailer Marden’s.  Survived 2008 as a Republican in a heavily Democratic town, while maintaining his Conservative positions, and fought to lessen the Mayor’s power by establishing a City Manager office.  Says all the “right” conservative things and has done as well as Mayor, but has a certain “Fred!” lack of public polish and campaign skill.

OTHER

Bill Beardsley, former president of Husson University, where this author is a student.  Just announced, and has not established a significant presence as yet.

CONCLUSION

I think it’s fair to say that the Establishment is out from the get go in the current climate.

PAUL LEPAGE is clearly the Tea Party candidate, but that also means he’s the RONPAUL!-bot magnet.  How he reacts to his various groups of supporters will be key in how he is perceived for the larger campaign.

After that, I see MATT JACOBSON as the best of the outsiders, putting forth an excelent effort to build a strong published and online presences, while not resorting to the attention-trawling of Poliquin or carrying the baggage of Otten.

If Scott Brown can win in Massachussett[e]s, conservatives should expect bigger things than usual here in Maine, especially if we unite behind a candidate early.

Being a fan of Mike Pence, and also a fan of the TeaParty Protests, I wondered if Pence was supporting/attending one. After leaving such a note on Pence’s Facebook page, a supporter of his named Meredith sent me a note saying that he has been turned down from addressing the Indianapolis rally.  Wishing to verify(like a *real* journalist), I sent this email:

Dear sir,

Thank you for taking the time to organize this outlet for Americans to voice their frustrations with out out-of-control government. I myself hope to attend the event up here in Elkhart. It has come to my attention that when he offered, Rep. Mike Pence was denied the opportunity to address the crowd in Indy because “that’s not what this is about.”

The event should not be about parties or specific elected officials. However, at some point this movement must have a goal besides opposition. We know what we do not want, but what shall we replace it with? I believe that as an individual, aside from parties and electioneering, Mike Pence is an excellent example by which to contrast those we oppose. He is one of the few politicians that I have seen to actually *believe* in the root sentiments of this movement, and I believe excluding him from the main event of this movement in our state is a huge mistake.

Regardless, I hope your event will be a success. Good Luck and God bless.

I was listening to talk radio this morning, where complaints about lacking conservative recruiting and involvement were answered with “These protests are bringing [recruits] out of the woodwork.”  Hopefully we will come to the point of embracing these people that stand for something rather than clinging to a wandering mob mentality.

Cross-posted at : The Hammer of Reality

The key principle here seems to be patience. Laar said that they “tried to become too rich too fast.” It seems to me that in our present crisis, we are flailing about desperately trying to hold on to what (with loan agreements) was never ours. And as the present economy shakes us down to what we truly own and don’t own, the government is now trying to take what was not ours and make it ours, as if it was our right since we had been acting like it was our to begin with.

Economics is organic and cannot be controlled by any one entity, only nurtured and cultivated. Too much interference, such as the refusal to cut off “sapper” branches and it will wither. But if things shake out, and the unreliable people are allowed loose what was lent to them, then those who are able to do so will feel more comfortable lending to those of us who *are* reliable. These things must shake out for a healthy economy.

There are two ways to succeed in life:  Allow people to freely trade for mutual good and advancement,  or keeping the people under the thumb of a a falsehood while gaming the system for ones own benefit.  Our current overlords obviously practice the later, but a lie can only be maintained for so long.

I’m with Moe and Instapundit on this one. Where are my sharpened farm implements?

According to Michael Totten, Georgia’s move into Ossetia was actually a counter to Russian collumns ALREADY pouring through the Roki Tunnel (i.e. The Gateway of Georgia). They just had to fight their way through Ossetia first….

If this is true, we have more to worry about with Russia than I thought; that they would go through relatively unprovoked. I can’t wait to see if they try to break Ukraine’s blockade of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, currently occupying Poti, Georgia.

Also, Instapundit notes that Russias cyber-attacks have expanded to include this piece as well.

Finally, he’s one of the best independent war journalists out there, but is reader supported(HintHintHint).

Just off the wire at CNN, Florida and Michigan have had thier full voting rights restored to the Denver convention.

It’s all up to the Superdelegates sticking to their word now. I’m gonna make another batch of popcorn.