Trying to find that silver lining in an unexpectedly gloomy Election Day, Newt Gingrich pointed to Maine’s re-election of an independent governor as an example of how the electorate has rejected Democratic policies. With that much spin, Mr. Speaker now generates his own gravitational field.

The Maine vote that got the most national attention wasn’t Gov. King’s romp or the congressional landslides or even the return of John Martin — it was Newport preserving a woman’s right to engage in topless lawnmowing. The network anchors chuckled. The pundits snickered. President Clinton gazed out upon the expansive White House grounds and fell into a reverie.

The upside of his thrashing by Rep. John Baldacci, says Republican challenger Jonathan Reisman, is that at least he forced the incumbent Democrat to say he’s against turning Maine’s 2nd District into a national park. Victories come small in 3-to-1 shellackings — like taking credit for an opponent’s opposition to something the opponent never supported.

Every election, there is one state that particularly distinguishes itself. This time, it’s Minnesota, where voters chose as their next governor former pro wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a member of Ross Perot’s Reform Party. Maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time, electing a guy whose ring trademark was feather boa, who promises to flex his bulging biceps at stubborn legislators and who campaigned in that booming pro-wrestler voice on a platform that includes legalizing prostitution. But in the cold, harsh light of the morning after, many Minnesotans must be having second thoughts. An electoral best two-out-of-three, perhaps?

In a campaign season overshadowed by the approaching new millenium, most Maine candidates for high office — whether Republican, Democrat, Independent or Green — did commendable jobs of expressing their vision for the state’s future within the context of their political philosophies. Things didn’t go so well for the Taxpayers Party, though, whose fundamentalist, anti-government platform failed to click with even 4 percent of voters. This might lead to the conclusion that the vast majority of Mainers are more interested in moving ahead to the 21st century than in going back to the 18th.