Now not the time to debate Dem run-off

I write in response to Nathan Gehlert’s opinion published June 26. Gehlert, who worked for Sean Faircloth’s Democratic primary congressional campaign, suggested that Maine Democrats need a run-off. He backed up his argument with the logic of Faircloth’s candidacy and an enumeration of how the Democratic nominee for the Second District is weak in the fall election. I agree that Maine Democrats need a run-off, but I disagree with Gehlert’s logic. It is my belief that Gehlert’s opinion underestimates and patronizes the voters and the primary election candidates.

For one year I served as Sen. John Nutting’s congressional campaign Manager. It was a privilege to work with Sen. Nutting and to have the opportunity to affect the outcome of the June 11 primary election. I respect the voters’ voices as much as I fail to understand them.

Gehlert’s argument rested on his assumption that there is a strict correlation between the Democratic Party and a set of narrowly defined visions for society that he called “progressive issues”. Progressive issues, Gehlert continued, are women’s rights, gay rights and environmental rights. For the record, Sen. Nutting shares, and has always shared, those ideals and issues, contrary to consistent misinformation during the primary campaign.

In tying progressive issues directly to the Democratic Party, Mr. Gehlert underestimated both voters and the candidates that he named as progressive, David Costello, Sean Faircloth, Lori Handrahan and Susan Longley. He added the votes received by the four, and then suggested that either Longley or Faircloth would have won all 56 percent of those votes had none of the other candidates been running. This assumption raises the question of why each of the four candidates entered the race. Furthermore, If all four were in truth identical on the important issues, why would each stay in?

Having spent a year getting to know all candidates, I can enumerate the difference each candidate felt he or she had with the other five. I respect all six and trust that they were in the race as the result of honestly arrived at, and passionately held disagreements on congressional policy priorities and methods.

In extending his analysis to the voters, Gehlert stated that more Democrats would have voted for either Longley or Faircloth in a run-off against Sen. Michaud. I vehemently disagree. Most voters that I spoke with on the campaign trail voted for a candidate after weighing such factors as the candidate’s stands on the issues, viability in the fall, public and private sector experience, and personality. With most votes so intensely considered, it is foolish to speculate on the outcome of a completely different race.

Democrats in Maine and in the United States disagree on many issues. Gehlert mentioned abortion as one such issue. Democrats also disagree with each other on such issues as free trade, capital punishment, and the scope of endangered species protection. A lack of unanimity is still more evident in historical perspective. We are the party that presided over Reconstruction and the Jim Crow laws, and we are the party that finally extended Civil Rights to African-Americans in the 1960s. Many with more wisdom than myself have found that there exist as many differences within the two major parties as there is between them. I, for one, am pleased that these differences exist, and I am proud to have been involved in a primary where these very issues were debated and contested.

Gehlert and I agree that the Democratic nominee chosen by this fractured electorate begins the fall campaign having built less electoral support than a run-off would allow. I join Gehlert in wishing that a run-off system existed in Maine Democratic primaries. I disagree with him that now is the appropriate time for that debate.

All candidates and staff knew that there would be no run-off after June 11, and still we devoted our time and effort to the election. If Gehlert and I are correct in our belief that progressive values are best reflected by the Democrats, there is an imperative that Maine’s next 2nd District congressman cast his vote for Rep. Gephardt rather than Rep. Hastert. Following the November election, if Gehlert’s “progressive majority” exists in Maine, these Democrats would likely support an election rules change. Having spent a year contesting Gehlert and his colleagues, I admire his abilities. The progressive majority would be well served if he devoted his considerable talents to working for an election rules change.

Through Nov. 5, I stand behind the Democratic nominee, Sen. Mike Michaud. Sen. Michaud and I disagree on many issues, but in the 2nd District congressional race, he is my best hope for the success of the issues that I care about.

Michael Carey lives in Leeds and was the campaign manager for state Sen. John Nutting in his Democratic primary campaign.