AUGUSTA – Stunning the pundits and political establishment, former Chief Justice Daniel E. Wathen announced Thursday he would seek the Republican Party’s nomination for governor.

Wathen resigned Wednesday as chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in a surprise move that even caught Gov. Angus King off guard. The former jurist has never held elective office and decided only within the last 24 hours that he would run as a Republican. Though Wathen is a registered Republican, speculation Wednesday was that he would run as an independent.

On Thursday, with members of his family gathered around him in a small conference room at the Augusta Civic Center, Wathen said the United States will never be the same in the aftermath of last month’s terrorist attacks. Wathen had begun to consider a run for governor a few days before the Sept. 11 airplane hijackings. The thousands who died in the debris of the World Trade Center made him realize how fleeting life’s opportunities are.

“We will prevail in the end, but we will never be the same,” he said. “After Sept. 11, we live in different times with different challenges requiring new and different solutions. So here I stand, newly unemployed, looking to volunteer to work for all of the people of Maine.”

His mother, Wilda, who was at his side Thursday, is a Republican. But Wathen’s father, Joe, was a Democrat.

“They usually canceled each other’s vote,” he joked.

Wathen enrolled as a Republican when he first registered to vote. But in order to maintain his standard of ethics as a jurist, he avoided political activities during his years on the bench.

“So I am a Republican, but a Republican with a difference,” he said. “Because of my position, I have never spoken to an official of the Republican Party here in Maine.”

The candidate’s decision to seek state office creates a little less elbowroom for an already crowded field of candidates. Democratic 2nd District Rep. John Baldacci of Bangor is unopposed in his bid to secure his party’s nomination. But Republicans Peter Cianchette of South Portland and Jim Libby of Gorham are expected to face Wathen in the June GOP primary. David Flanagan of Manchester is running for governor as an independent and Jonathan Carter of Lexington Township is nearly ready to announce his bid as a Green Independent candidate.

Questions on where Wathen stood on issues such as abortion or solutions to the inequities inherent in Maine’s statewide economy went largely unanswered during the press conference Thursday. Wathen said he had not yet had the time to develop positions or action plans on many of the issues he would face as governor. He also had not decided whether he would run as a privately funded candidate or a publicly funded candidate under the Maine Clean Election Act.

Wathen cited his 24 years of experience in the courts where he dealt with violence in Maine communities, issues of justice, punishment, public safety and protection. He also said he had gained some experience in economic development while in private practice before becoming a Superior Court justice.

“I know how to set priorities,” he said. “I have a proven record in leadership in managing the third branch of Maine’s government.”

Wathen will be traveling throughout Maine during the next few months to obtain greater insight into issues confronting the voters and to try to develop a range of possible solutions. He has yet to assemble a campaign committee or find office space. At one point he held out a cell phone and said that would be his only office for a while. He promised to be available to reporters and others who wished to know more about his positions on key issues.

The judge did not have to wait long to find out what some conservative Republicans thought of his reaction to a reporter’s question on abortion rights. When asked if he thought a woman should have the right to choose an abortion – a question that historically has created conflict among Republicans in Maine – Wathen dismissed the inquiry as one of several “hot-button politically divisive issues.”

“Those are not the relevant issues today,” he said. “Those are how political parties hash up each other and that’s not what I’m here for today, but I’ll be back and we’ll go through each one of these.”

Wathen, who friends described later as having already gone on record as “pro-choice” on abortion, was immediately taken to task by abortion foes for displaying indifference to what they perceive as a key issue.

“I was disappointed that he characterized the abortion question as a wedge issue within political parties,” said Michael Heath, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine. “Clearly it’s about more than that. It’s about when life begins and how our law and culture are going to relate to human beings who are in the womb.”

Later, the Maine Right to Life Committee also expressed its disappointment in Wathen’s remarks.

“Maine Right To Life strongly disagrees with former Justice Warren,” said Richard J. Traynor, executive director of the group in a statement released later in the day. “Very large numbers of Maine people care greatly about the dignity and sanctity of the human lives which continue to be destroyed by abortion.”