Susan Longley Democratic state senator focuses on health care in campaign

Maine Sen. Susan Longley answers a question about her late father with a long pause and a downward stare.

“I’ll get it out,” the soft-spoken congressional candidate finally says with a forced smile as she reflects on former independent Maine Gov. James Longley. The family name instantly helped place the Liberty Democrat among the front-runners in the six-way 2nd Congressional District primary to replace U.S. Rep. John Baldacci.

“My independent father struck a chord,” continued the now-composed Longley, who has represented her traditionally Republican Waldo County district for four terms. “I think he had that independence that all of us as Mainers have … and we’re proud of it.”

While Baldacci family politics are relatively easy to define, Longley politics are anything but.

Her independent father’s 1974 campaign was followed two decades later by that of his Republican son, Jim, elected to Congress in the 1st District as part of the Newt-Gingrich-led Republican revolution of 1994.

Susan Longley, herself now the Democratic chairwoman of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, has looked to build her own reputation in Augusta – but more as a policy-maker than a politician, she said.

Addressing a nursing class earlier this week at Eastern Maine Technical College in Bangor, Longley, 46, left little doubt that she’s a teacher by trade. Longley, who also is an attorney, has taught constitutional law at Unity College for the past 12 years.

Armed with a summary of recent health care legislation passed through her committee, Longley is more than happy to talk to the class about what she considers the “most important issue of our time.”

“It’s right up there with the war on terrorism in terms of the amount of resources we should devote to it,” said Longley, who calls herself a “mother of Cub Care,” a full-benefit health plan for children in low- to moderate-income families.

Longley said the 1998 legislation provided health insurance to an estimated 18,000 previously uninsured children.

If Democrats could gain control of the U.S. House, Longley said the chances for a Medicare prescription drug benefit making it through Congress increase dramatically. She also favors reducing the eligible age to receive Medicare benefits to 55.

Like U.S. Senate candidate Chellie Pingree, Longley has made health care “the” campaign issue in a pivotal election year when both the House and Senate are up for grabs.

“[Longley’s] positioned to do very well,” said Colby College political analyst Sandy Maisel of the Democrat with the liberal reputation. “She just needs to mobilize her logical constituency. I just haven’t seen her doing it yet.”

Although the candidates’ polls put Longley at, or at least near, the front of the pack, she is taking nothing for granted, but hoping her hometown ties to Lewiston – a traditional Democratic stronghold – could give her the edge on June 11.

And with the incumbent’s sister, Rosemary Baldacci, serving as campaign manager, some said Longley could find some inroads into Bangor, the traditional base of former state Sen. Sean Faircloth.

“Her message is what’s resonating with people,” Rosemary Baldacci said in an earlier interview.

But with Longley more prone to policy than politicking, the candidate is finding a run for national office a far cry from her state Senate bids.

“It feels like a lot of fast-moving water all around and you’re paddling with all your might,” Longley said, equating her first statewide campaign to her recent canoe trip with her brother, Steve, down the Kenduskeag River in Bangor.

Longley, whose aides even say is still honing her campaign skills, is no stranger to close elections.

In her final defense of her Senate seat against a popular Republican sheriff, the margin was so tight that a recount was needed to determine the winner.

With analysts predicting a mere 25 percent of the vote could win the open 2nd District seat, every vote counts, Longley said.

And with the position attracting a plethora of candidates, it’s no surprise the barbs are flying in all directions.

Longley shrugs off some of her opponents’ assertions that she was unable to raise enough money to win, with both of her Senate colleagues boasting more than double her fund-raising total.

“I’ve been doing the job I was elected to do,” Longley said of her Senate duties. “I’m confident that quality [of service] will be followed by quantity [of votes].”

On the Net: www.susanlongley.org.