The state of Maine holds the distinction of being the most independent state, politically, in the nation.  It is the ONLY state in the country to have given Ross Perot second place in 1992.  And it also holds the distinction of having had independent governors twice in the last two decades, the current incumbent, Angus King, being one of them.

    Maine's senior Senator, Olympia Snowe, Republican, is a true centrist.  She is known for her ability to reach across party lines and form coalitions.  She is one of the few Republicans who supports campaign finance reform, having voted for McCain-Feingold every time it has come up for a vote in recent years.  She also shows independence occasionally on fiscal matters, having voted for the Chafee-Breaux balanced budget proposal in 96.  She also is a supporter of the balanced budget amendment.  By ARP standards, I would normally say that Snowe is a natural for an ARP endorsement.  However in this state there is a wild card.  Independent Governor Angus King just won a second term by a whopping 59%, putting the Democratic and Republican showing in the race, at 12% and 19% respectively, to shame.  There has been speculation that he may be interested in higher office.  That could be President or Senator; who knows?  In any event, it seems to me it might be worth our while to put out some feelers to any contacts we have in Maine.  If King is interested, by all means we should endorse him.  In this instance, if we could have him assert his affiliation with ARP that would be perfect.  On the other hand, if he shows no interest then there is only one other barely credible independent or third party figure in this state, and that is former Congressman James B. Longley, Jr.(R), who is the son of a former Independent Governor of Maine, and supports the balanced budget amendment.  While his previous incumbency in Congress as the First CD's Representative saw him serving as a Republican, my gut tells me that, as someone who enjoyed strong support from Perotistas in 94 and 96, he might be more than ready to abandon the GOP for the ARP if asked to do so.  If neither King nor Longley show interest then I believe we should definitely endorse Snowe in 2000.

    Senator Susan Collins is cut from exactly the same moderate cloth as is her senior colleague.  She is an original co-sponsor of the most recent reincarnation of McCain-Feingold, a most gutsy step on the part of someone with her freshman status.  In terms of political reform, she also supports term limits, and has pledged to serve only two terms.  Fiscally, she has scored as high as 12 percentage points higher than her party's average in the Senate on the TCS scale.  She also is a supporter of the balanced budget amendment and of the ill-fated line-item veto.  Trent Lott and his merry men do NOT like her; she had originally wanted a seat on the Armed Services Committee but got shunted aside because of her moderate views, such as her pro-choice position on abortion.   Barring again the possibility of Angus King or James B. Longley, Jr. going for a Senate seat in 2002, it seems to me that this Senator is exactly the kind of public official that ARP wants and needs in power, and I suggest that Collins' race in 02 be one of our higher priorities because of this person's political precariousness.  She won her last race with only 49% of the vote and I'm sure would be grateful for any organization who could succeed in putting her over the top in three years.
 

    We should challenge incumbent Tom Allen (D), who won his first race in '96 with 55%.  The most appropriate challenger is former moderate Republican Governor John McKernan, a man who has recently formed an alliance with the Main Street Republicans, a group of moderate Republicans in the House led by Amo Houghton of New York.  There is, of course, the problem that, technically, a Congressional Representative is a step down from Governor.  I believe we can solve that problem by stating publicly, and putting into our promotional campaign, that we intend to make this major leader of the third party/independent movement our Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, should we amass an effective governing coalition.  Should McKernan not make himself available for this purpose, ARP has two options, as I see it.  We could endorse a Republicrat; the most promising alternative there is moderate Republican State Senate Minority Leader Jane Amero.  Or we could endorse as our very own ARP candidate James B. Longley, Jr..  He has no history on political reform or trade BUT he already has good relations with Perotistas in this state.  In addition, the current governor of Maine, Independent Angus King, is a political leader after our own heart; who knows?  Having conquered the Maine Statehouse he might be interested in challenging the Republicrat duopoly in our nation's capital.  Even if all the possibilities I have mentioned don't pan out we will have to still mount a challenge here, I feel.  There is plenty of pro-third party and/or independent sentiment here, and it would be a shame to walk away from this important district, so we may have to fall back on a more modest flag-planting campaign.  Our goal, in that case, should be to win at least 10%, enough to hold the current incumbent to 50%, assuming his support remains unchanged from now until 2000.
 

    We should support incumbent John Elias Baldacci(D), who voted against the congressional pay raise, and for term limits.  While not in political trouble, he has shown such independence from the leadership of Dick Gephardt in the House that I have little doubt he would be willing to be a part of any centrist coalition that we and/or history manage to develop there in the next six years.  Among other unusual positions was his stance in favor of a non-partisan/bipartisan leadership team in the recent elections for Speaker.  He actually indicated willingness to vote against Gephardt for Speaker if a non-ideological common sense candidate would have emerged instead from the philosophical center of the House.  Alas, such did not happen.  But I have little doubt that if such an eventuality were again to appear possible Baldacci would be a part of turning that into reality.