Just over a week ago, I suggested that the McCain campaign should send Sarah Palin to Maine where the moose-hunting Alaska Governor might be able to help put that state’s second congressional district into the Republican column this fall.
Well, it looks like the McCain campaign has taken my advice. According tot the Boston Globe, it’s turning to that very district:
Yesterday, Republican John McCain’s campaign announced that it had begun withdrawing from Michigan, but would start committing resources to Maine, where strategists say he has been buoyed by the addition of Sarah Palin to his ticket.
Christian Potholm, a political consultant and Bowdoin College government professor, this Palin could help sway some Mainers to vote Republican: “If the Republicans bring Sarah Palin up here to do a whistlestop tour through the Second Congressional District, I think they’ll not only win that district but they’ll win the state.”
Just read the whole article to see how enthused some Mainers, sportsmen like Palin, are about the Alaska Governor. Â It may be time for her to apply for a permit to go moose-hunting later this month!
I presume there is enough internal polling that the district can be won over with some campaigning. Otherwise, I’m not sure how much effort one electoral vote is worth. How likely is it to come down to one electoral vote? To make a difference, it would have to come down to 269-269 without considering a change in Maine. The only possible way I see that happening is for the 2004 map to remain unchanged except for Iowa, New Mexico, and Nevada to swing to Obama. (There are other mathematical possibilities, but I don’t think they are politically possible.) In my theoretical case, when an extra vote in Maine could put McCain over the top, but otherwise, it doesn’t help. If McCain could win the state overall but lose the 1st district, he’d have 3 out of Maine’s 4 votes. I would imagine winning both Maine districts would require something of a McCain landslide although I guess I’m not much of an expert on Maine’s politics except to know that RINO senators seem to have an easy time getting reelected in what is otherwise a fairly blue state.
I think the masses of people relocating from Massachusetts and Connecticut, etc to Maine has changed the balance a lot for national elections from the formerly reliable Rockerfeller Republican state it was. True, Snowe and Collins keep getting re-elected, and Collins is the favorite to win again this fall. They are also members of the centrist ‘Republican Main Street Partnership’, just like John McCain. Perhaps if Collins campaigned with him, it could help? Otherwise I fear it’s becoming one of those states where the national party’s presidential nominee is considered a different beast than what the state party has to offer. (Much like Democrats in the Southern States). I just think not enough of an effort has been made, ANYWHERE, to paint Obama as the extremist with dubious relationships that he is. He SHOULD be Dukakis Redux, but for some reason Mac has held back. I pray for some bloodletting this fall against the Messiah, not just in Maine but all over.