McKernan vows change in focus of campaign

Gov. John R. McKernan said Friday that he felt a bit frustrated in getting his message across in his hard-fought campaign against Rep. Joseph E. Brennan, but McKernan promised to change the focus of his campaign in coming weeks.

McKernan said the rough-and-tumble format of this week’s televised debate had favored Brennan, and also said he thought Brennan had grown out of touch with Maine’s needs during his four years in Washington as 1st District congressman.

Meeting with the Bangor Daily News editorial board, McKernan said the regionwide economic slowdown that forced three New England governors to retire early made his re-election campaign that much more difficult.

“Obviously, there’s a frustration,” McKernan said. “It is not a hand you would like to be dealt in an election year. But given the hand we have been dealt, we have done better than any other state.”

McKernan said Brennan and his Democratic allies in the Legislature had succeeded in making headlines by asking a lot of questions about McKernan’s handling of the state budget crunch.

“But they don’t have any answers and that tells me they didn’t have a better solution,” said the Republican governor.

“We’re not going to change what we’re saying. We’re going to try to find a better way to say it,” said McKernan. “We have to turn the psychology of this campaign.”

One message McKernan said he wants to get across is that Maine is better off with two vigorous political parties than it would be under a “one-party government.”

Democrats have controlled both houses of the Legislature since 1982 and when McKernan was elected in 1986, he was the first Republican governor in Maine in 20 years.

“We have to look to what happened in one-party states,” McKernan said. “I think people want to see more of a balance than they have in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey. There will be a lot more discussion if you have two-party government than if Joe Brennan can make decisions behind closed doors.”

McKernan claimed if Brennan were elected “there will be a minimum of a $100 million increase in taxes.”

Given the tight nature of state finances and the many one-time revenue enhancements used to balance this year’s budget, both candidates have said in effect that they might be forced to raise broad-based taxes sometime in the next four years.

But McKernan argued that he was the candidate better able to guide Maine into the future based on his “investments in people” in such areas as child care, welfare reform, job training, higher education and restructuring schools.

“My concern if Brennan takes over is that a lot of these programs will be let to fall by the wayside,” McKernan said. “The last administration didn’t prepare Maine for the future.

“We have to convince people that if they are concerned about the future, the worst thing would be to go back to old solutions for tomorrow’s problems.”

On the TV debate, in which Brennan appeared to get the better of McKernan in a finger-wagging shouting match, McKernan said, “That format is Brennan’s, not mine … It is better theater for the stations, but it is not necessarily in the best interest of those watching.”

McKernan claimed Brennan’s performance might backfire against him.

“A number of people called in and said, `That guy was so outrageous, I will never vote for him,’ ” McKernan said.

Asked if he felt personal animosity toward Brennan, McKernan said, “Obviously, your competitive juices flow on something like this. It isn’t personal … I assume Joe Brennan really wants to be governor.

“But I don’t think he understands the needs of the state right now. I believe he’s grown out of touch.”