AUGUSTA – The lineup of bond issues on last week’s statewide ballots provided relatively routine content for Maine voters. As a result, coming attractions overshadowed the 2001 feature event.

Many campaigns for the 2002 elections are already well-organized and cranking along as candidates set out to gain public recognition. It’s been that way for months.

Even while he was winning a fourth congressional term a year ago, U.S. Rep. John Baldacci of Bangor was making his 2002 Blaine House intentions clear.

Last March, state Sen. John Nutting of Leeds was calling himself a candidate for Baldacci’s 2nd District seat.

In April, Democrat Chellie Pingree of North Haven declared her intentions to run for the U.S. Senate after considering a Blaine House run.

“Politics is becoming more of a full-time activity at a local and state level than it used to be,” said Oliver Woshinsky, professor emeritus at the University of Southern Maine.

Campaigns are longer because Americans’ daily lives are affected more and more by government action, Woshinsky said. That is especially true since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he noted.

Candidates are also starting earlier because establishing a popular base has become so critical to their success. Party blessings have become less important, making politics “less of an insider’s game,” said Woshinsky.

Building a broad popular base is important in Maine because the state’s largest voting bloc is independent, said Pingree’s deputy campaign manager, Nora O’Connell.

Candidates such as Pingree and Democratic primary rival Bob Dunfey of York who are targeting incumbents must establish themselves. The Democratic nominee will likely challenge Republican first-term U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who appears to be uncontested within her own party, in November 2002.

With the election still 14 months off this past August, Maine Democratic Party Chairwoman Gwethalyn Phillips was marveling at how early the serious campaigning had started.

Sean Faircloth of Bangor, who is in a crowded field seeking the Democratic nomination for Baldacci’s U.S. House seat, had nailed down an endorsement by union shipbuilders at Bath Iron Works before September arrived.

And weeks before Halloween, Faircloth was boasting of his endorsement by author Stephen King.

Since then, other candidates have been revving up their machinery with announcements, re-announcements, campaign kickoffs and other staged events designed to keep them before the public eye.

Veteran legislator Michael Michaud of East Millinocket, who is finishing a one-year stint as Senate president, announced endorsements by state employees’ and paper workers’ unions. He then won a nod from the statewide AFL-CIO.

Susan Longley, a state senator from Liberty, chose Baldacci’s sister’s Bangor restaurant as a starting point for her 2nd District campaign.

David Costello of Lewiston, a former foreign assistance officer, and outgoing Lewiston mayor Kaileigh Tara are in the race but their campaigns are subdued.

On the GOP side, campaigns of state Rep. Stavros Mendros of Lewiston, Kevin Raye of Brewer, former legislator Richard Campbell of Holden and former Bangor Mayor Tim Woodcock are in motion.

Dan Gwadosky, Maine’s secretary of state who considered a run for the 2nd District seat but dropped out, sees a downside to the long campaigns, saying they can turn off the public at a time officials like himself are trying to encourage more people to vote.

Gwadosky said focus groups point to a public desire for shorter, not longer campaigns, leading to suggestions that primaries be held after the summer in September rather than in June.

Long campaigns also exact a toll on candidates. Just over a month ago, Democrat Patrick McGowan cited lengthy campaigns as a reason for not running for the 2nd District seat he nearly won in the past.

“A year of campaigning is very difficult for any family to go through,” McGowan said. “Many candidates in the race for the 2nd District have chosen to make this a year-and-a-half endeavor.”

In the gubernatorial race, talk for months reflected assumptions that Baldacci would be the candidate to beat. Then came Daniel Wathen’s surprise announcement in October that he was quitting his post of chief justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court to run.

Wathen’s statement at the time underscored the waning importance of political parties in influencing candidates’ activities.

“Because of my position, I have never spoken to an official of the Republican Party here in Maine. I don’t even know who the chair of the Republican Party is, and I don’t even know if they want me as a Republican candidate for governor,” Wathen said at his announcement Oct. 4.

Wathen, an Augusta resident, faces Peter Cianchette of South Portland and Jim Libby of Buxton, both former legislators, for the GOP nomination.

Independent David Flanagan’s candidacy had been long anticipated when the former utility executive from Manchester made his announcement in July. On Nov. 5 – one year before the election – Flanagan “kicked off” his campaign with a cross-state tour.

Under the Green Party banner, Jonathan Carter of North New Portland, who ran for governor in 1994, is running again. Also seeking support is Steven Farsaci of Farmington.

In Maine’s 1st District, there has been virtually no campaign activity.