Congressional candidates enter the home stretch

loading...

Campaigns of the five Maine candidates for congress have moved into high gear in the final days before Election Day, Nov. 3. Televised debates and campaign swings are providing the staple for this year’s home stretch.

In the 1st District, Rep. Tom Andrews and Linda Bean took off the gloves for their first televised debate in Portland on Monday, Oct. 19.

Meanwhile, the 2nd District television debate cycle began Oct. 16 in Presque Isle and continued with debates at television stations in Portland on Oct. 21 and 23. Republican Olympia Snowe is trying to fight off challenges by her opponent in 1990, Democrat Partick K. McGowan, and Green Party candidate Jonathan K. Carter.

In the 1st District

Up until the red lights on the WGME television cameras turned on to start the 1st District debate Monday, Bean had pretty much been spinning her wheels on television ads, while Andrews was stuck in Washington.

Bean strove mightily to paint Andrews as a dangerous radical who supported a “socialized medicine” plan and was out of step with the district on several other issues, including defense. Andrews opened some eyes with his votes to close Loring Air Force Base and to kill funding for the B-2 bomber.

Andrews focused more on the camera than on Bean’s attacks and calmly defended his unique approach to politics and his refusal to “go along to get along” in Washington. He dismissed the $3 billion B-2 bomber as a “plane which does not work,” and “designed to attack an enemy which no longer exists.”

But even with a lead which has been reported as 30-36 percent over the Republican millionaire, Andrews said he was taking no chances. After all, it was Andrews who trailed the primary field in 1988 before he fashioned a thrilling, last-minute victory over better-known Libby Mitchell and Attorney General James Tierney as well as dark horse Linda Abromson. Bean is projected to spend more than $1 million on the campaign, primarily on television, while Andrews is expected to maintain the strong edge on the ground with a highly organized machine while delivered the 1988 primary victory.

On the stump, Bean delivers the traditional conservative Republican call for a limit to government which has grown out of control. She rails against excessive mandates and regulation and endorses tax reform which includes term limitation, the line-item veto, easing the capital gains tax and an end to high congressional salaries and “gilt-edged” pensions.

Andrews gives the familiar Democratic diatribe against “12 years of Republican, trickle-down economics” which made the wealthy even wealthier, a period when 70 percent of the income expansion went to the highest 1 percent of the population. At the same time, taxes for the middle class went up and the economy was forced to its knees. “It is time to change, time to put the people first,” Andrews says.

Bean said it is a “myth” that capital gains taxes are paid by the rich only. She said 79 percent of people paying capital gains earn less than $50,000. To increase the number of jobs, Bean would ease the capital gains penalty, and ease the federally mandated burden by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on small business. Andrews would focus on unreasonable health-care costs to create jobs. Those unfair costs place American industry at a great disadvantage and show an annual increase of 15-20 percent a year. Without that change, another 120,000 shipbuilding jobs are expected to end up overseas, Andrews said.

To reduce the burgeoning deficit, Andrews said, he already has voted for $47 billion in cuts. He also would reward bureaucrats who do not spend every cent allotted, to avoid the fourth-quarter spending spree which characterizes today’s government. Bean has adopted the prescription of the Heritage Foundation which allegedly would balance the budget in five years without further cuts in defense. The cuts would include the sale of government loans, including FHA mortgages to the private sector.

The tremendous defense machine which crumbled the Soviet Union should survive to face challenges of the future, Bean said. Bean said Andrews is too willing to “throw jobs away” in the district by excessive cuts. Andrews replies that the United States spends a fortune to defend Germany and Japan while those competitors are free to invest in research and development to enhance their economic positions. Andrews proposes defense cuts at twice the level proposed by the administration.

In the 2nd District

At first glance, Round 2 between Snowe and McGowan has all the sights and sounds of the last campaign. A longer look shows that this year, it’s a whole new game.

In 1990, the incumbent ran her ususal race, waiting to engulf the year’s Democratic lamb. But the lamb, former state Rep. McGowan came within a point or so of victory in the country’s fourth-closest congressional race of the season.

This year, everyone assumed the challenger would return for another shot — not necessarily so, he said — but he did, and as in 1990, he kicked off his campaign at a small-town rally.

Just before that came the wild card: Carter — an articulate independent candidate running for the Green Party. Just another fringe political hack, some said.

Although some polling has shown Carter with less than 5 percent of the share of potential 2nd District voters, he could prove to be a factor on election night. For one thing, polls typically exclude anyone who didn’t vote in the previous election. In this non-traditional year, Carter could revive the Jerry Brown forces who often don’t register on political radar.

As McGowan and Snowe run neck and neck, nearly everyone agrees that any votes Carter gets will draw from McGowan’s support, particularly in Hancock County, a Republican stronghold where the Greens are prevalent.

In 1990, McGowan sought to recapture the party’s traditional base, and he spent the bulk of his time campaigning in Democratic strongholds, such as mill towns, to bring the so-called Reagan Democrats back into line. On election night 1990, he at one point had a strong lead over Snowe, but that evaporated after the small towns began to report results.

This year, at least in some regards, McGowan’s campaign looks identical to his bid of two years ago. He’s flying himself in and out of towns, preaching the “It’s-time-to-take-care-of-our-own” message that he coined last time. He also has traveled to the small towns that turned the tide for Snowe in 1990. And he has spent more time in Aroostook County — which he lost narrowly to Snowe in 1990 — hoping to convince the hard-hit farmers that he could do better for them than Snowe has.

Two years ago, Snowe was released from Congress to campaign full time on Oct. 29, about a week before the election. She said in post-election interviews that while she could feel McGowan closing the gap, some of her supporters considered her a shoo-in and ignored the Democrat’s surge.

In 1992, Snowe has had nearly a month to campaign full time, and her legions say they will not make the same mistake twice, especially with the anti-incumbent mood sweeping the nation. During her district tours, Snowe has emphasized her fights for Loring AFB, the balanced-budget amendment, and the repeal of the boat tax.

Both candidates also are relying on media a little differently this go-round: While fund raising has been tight for both McGowan and Snowe, McGowan has raised more money than he did two years ago, went on television earlier, and even bought a half-hour of live television time to answer questions about his proposals. Snowe increased her media budget for 1992, and has turned more to radio and newspaper spots to buttress her television, which turned on the attack a month before the election.

Except for news accounts, Snowe’s television spots are about the only place voters will see Carter. Snowe’s inclusion of Carter on at least one of her ads was thought to help chip away at McGowan’s support because it gave Carter the widespread exposure he himself won’t seek.

Carter has run a Jerry Brown-populist campaign, eschewing traditional media for earned coverage — through news stories — and taking only individual contributions of $100 or less. While spending between McGowan and Snowe together could total nearly $1 million, Carter likely will have spent only about $20,000 or so by Election Day.

Carter has attracted media attention with his unconventional campaigning, canoeing, bicycling or kayaking in parts of the giant district, giving speeches laced with statistics and an anti-corporatism, anti-special-interest message. While the other two campaigns have relied on paid staff as well as volunteerss and grass-roots work, Carter has only one person who is paid.