Torn by economic disparity, shifting population, bruising battles over forestry and gay rights and a growing seccessionist fever, Northern Maine sees reasons almost daily to resent the southern part of the state. More than ever, Maine needs a leader who can bring the state together again by bringing Northern Maine in from the political cold. It needs a leader who understands the challenges facing this half of the state cannot be patched up overnight or without serious investment.

Where to find such a leader?

He is already here.

Gov. Angus King has been criticized, including by this newspaper, of too often being merely Southern Maine’s governor. The charge was fair early in his term, but it is not fair now. The governor heard the criticisms from the North and East and responded, sometimes grudgingly, as in the case of school funding, sometimes enthusiastically, as when he helps develop business at the Loring Commerce Centre. He has become an important voice for research and development funding for the university system and a cautious backer of the east-west highway. He can do more and do it better.

Maine should re-elect Gov. King not only because he is the best candidate in the field, but because he is capable of leading Maine strongly into the next century. He deserves the support of Maine voters, especially those north of Augusta.

The governor’s shortcomings with state geography in 1994 have been overcome during his first term, though the benefits of this education are only beginning to be seen. His administration can justly claim success in helping businesses such as McCain Foods, with its $70 potato-processing operation, Kent, Inc., whose $1.3 million expansion of the former Gerber company kept 300 jobs in Fort Kent, Lawrence Ray Fishing in Milbridge, Maine Frozen Food in Caribou and Freshway in Mars Hill. The governor’s fight to keep the gas pipeline coming into Maine rather than going through Quebec was a rarely reported victory. His administration’s support for Maine Woods Co. $15 million hardwood mill at Portage Lake showed the kind of teamwork Maine needs to compete.

And that is an especially important point for the northern half of the state. An independent, Gov. King is beholden to no party. His goal since he first ran for office has been doggedly consistent: Improve Maine lives by increasing Maine prosperity. All of Maine. Success makes no distinction between this Maine or that Maine.

It’s starting to work. A housing research group called the Fannie Mae Foundation reported this week that the population exodus from Northeast has stopped and that Maine and Massachusetts are leading the way to a rejeuvenated region. Maine’s share grows out of the transition in its core employment from textiles to financial services and a broader diversity of manufacturing that help protect the state from the downside of economic cycles.

Slowly, Maine, if you’ll pardon the expression, is on the move; Gov. King can help it pick up the pace.

The field

Jim Longley was right. The GOP candidate and second in polling in this race said early on that, without a lot of money for campaign ads, the focus would be issues. He chose Maine’s high tax rate and hammered out a compelling theme for voters. It was no surprise that the former member of Congress could run a credible race. What was surprising was how well newcomers Democrat Tom Connolly and Green Pat LaMarche campaigned given their lack of experience and resources.

Mr. Connolly made an impassioned, high-spirited plea for his vision of a more humane state. He backed it up with statistics that he turned into stirring case for helping Maine’s poor and the needy. His was the sort of Democratic campaign Maine has not seen in years but should see more often.

Ms. LaMarche, a candidate not entirely welcomed by the Greens at first, developed stack of campaign issues most experienced state candidates would be glad to have. She has been an eloquent, forceful speaker on topics from health care to education to job growth. She understands the power of the sound bite and the necessity of there being substance behind the words. She certainly will be sought after to run again, perhaps as a Green, unless the Democrats entice her back to that party.

Taxpayer Party Bill Clarke’s plan to end income taxes and fund schools locally is a theory in search of reality. His ideas may yield smaller government, but they would also have a devastating effect on Maine, particularly this part of Maine.

The agenda

What can the governor do to overcome the economic disparities that have divided the state? Here is a partial list, call it a checklist to measure progress toward reuniting Maine.

Offer Maine a comprehensive plan for developing long-range, promising jobs in rural Maine and tell residents how they can take part in the prosperity. This should not be another study identifying the problem; we know the problem is lack of opportunity, shrinking towns, a rural lifestyle that no longer serves the state the way it once did. The question is what to do about it and how projects like an extension of I-95, an East-West Highway and an expansion of the value-added wood products industry can help. While we’re at it, we nominate former UMaine President Fred Hutchinson to lead the planning.

Address the lack of a coherent health-care system in Maine, which has abandoned the working poor and is a growing burden on business. Ms. LaMarche used the Maine Health Care Reform Commission’s 1995 plan for universal access as part of her platform. Borrow that idea.

Either fully fund Maine’s school funding formula or stop pretending that a partially funded formula creates anything like equity among districts. The administration’s plan to pay for essential services in schools is valuable only if 1) its program recognizes that all students, from the least able to the brightest, deserve educations appropriate to their abilities and 2) the funding is real and not a fraction of what is actually required.

Come to terms with the University of Maine System. The system can be the backbone of a stronger, more aggressive economy in this part of the state, but the governor and the public must have confidence that the money already going there is well-spent. Call for an outside audit to ensure the university funding is being spent most effectively, then crank up the research and development money to leverage top-notch jobs for the entire region.

Most important and hardest to define, offer leadership.

The governor

Look heavenward and consider the national excitement that surrounded John Glenn’s return to space this week. He didn’t get there in 1962 or 1998 because President John Kennedy simply said the right words about the importance of space flight. He got there because the president believed in his bones that the adventure was something vital for America. He set a target and a time. He galvanized public support, which continued long after his death, to land a man on the moon by decade’s end. He said space flight was a national priority and then he acted like he meant it, particularly at budget time.

Maine needs that kind of leadership for its own, more earthbound priorities. It needs a governor who will say that Maine is too fine a state to remain divided. That the injustices of hardened state policy will give way to respect for the dignity of all Maine citizens. That either this state acts together or it suffers in pieces.

A target and a time. Maine’s per-capita income is 36th in the nation; its R&D spending is dead last; its taxes are too high. The three are directly connected. A 10-year project to move up Maine’s R&D program 15 places, raising per-capita income and, as a result, dropping the tax burden would leave Gov. King a legacy of gratitude from all of Maine.

Such a program would take money and commitment. It would require getting the entire state to support it. Most of all, it would take leadership.