John Nutting State senator from Leeds believes years of work in his dairy barn and the State House provide down-to-earth credentials for congressional run

He was in the barn before the sun rose and at 6 a.m. state Sen. John Nutting still had three hours to go before his transformation. From rumpled dairy farmer to pressed and polished lawmaker, the Leeds Democrat – one of six candidates vying for his party’s nomination to replace fellow Democrat U.S. Rep. John Baldacci – has looked to balance his responsibilities on the farm with his duties in Augusta.

While most politicians would take offense if someone accused them of shoveling manure, for Nutting the rather messy chore is all in a morning’s work.

But Nutting, a fifth-generation dairy farmer from this small Androscoggin County town of 2,001 people, stressedthat he saves his manure shoveling for the barn – not the hallways of the State House where he has served for 12 years.

“Every day people say I’m going to support you because you’re real, straightforward and decent,” Nutting said of his candidacy. “I may not always agree with you, but I’ll tell you so, and I’ll tell you why. People like that in the 2nd District.”

But voters in the sprawling district – the largest east of the Mississippi River – are not easy to figure.

Before Baldacci claimed the seat in 1994, Republicans had the run of the place with future political powerhouses U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe and, before her, former Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen, representing the district.

Nutting, 51, said that after eight years of Baldacci, the district is now accustomed to a pro-business Democrat. And that fact – in addition to Nutting’s lifelong ties to the area – should work in his favor, he said.

“You’re going to know the needs of the people here if you spent your whole life here,” Nutting said as his red and white Irish setter, Toran, romped with a neighbor’s dog around the yard.

First to announce his candidacy more than a year ago, the lawmaker now finds himself with the heaviest war chest, raising well over $270,000 and outpacing his nearest Democratic contender by about $50,000.

More than cash, Nutting said he hoped his 12-year record in Augusta would speak for him in the waning weeks of the primary campaign.

“I hope [voters will] think, ‘Who sponsored legislation to clean up the Androscoggin River?'” said Nutting, noting that while a state lawmaker he sponsored five first-in-the-nation environmental bills, including 1996 legislation that required paper companies to limit dioxin releases into Maine rivers.

In Washington, Nutting said, he would look to build on his environmental record and place strict limits on mercury emissions from Midwestern coal-fired power plants. The pollution often finds its way to Maine rivers on the easterly jet stream.

Nutting, a University of Maine graduate, also points to his record on education, noting his sponsorship of a 1999 bill that recalculated the school funding formula and has since redirected $94 million to poorer school systems, many of which are in the relatively rural 2nd District, he said.

If elected, Nutting said, he would also look to increase special education funding to the 40 percent level promised by federal law.

Nutting, who authored some of the 1996 reforms to the state workers’ compensation system, has also played a major role in this session’s debate, which at points placed the small-business owner at odds with his labor-leaning Democratic colleagues, including Sens. Susan Longley of Liberty and Michael Michaud of East Millinocket. Both lawmakers are also considered among the front-runners for the party’s nomination.

During Nutting’s State House tenure – half of which has been in the Senate – he and his wife have seen to the demands of the family farm, Androscoggin Holsteins. The farm was recently named one of the top 12 best dairies for milk quality in the country.

Sometimes, getting up at the crack of dawn – even before a long day in Augusta – has been beneficial.

“I write my best speeches out here with the cows,” Nutting said.

But before his daily trip to the bustle of Augusta, he first takes a last peaceful walk up the gravel road to his mailbox, which like his distinctive bumper stickers and signs features a black and white spotted cow design.

And while Nutting does stress his legislative experience, it’s those first four hours of the day in the barn that he hopes will resonate with the district’s traditionally industrious voters as they cast their ballots in the June 11 primary.