STUMBLES IN THE 2ND

Democratic congressional candidate Mike Michaud has a four or five point lead in his 2nd District race and a growing communications problem. If he is to become Maine’s newest member of Congress he must find clearer responses to entirely predictable political questions.

Republicans have made much of Mr. Michaud’s evasive answers about a vote on whether to tax certain Social Security recipients. He supported the measure, which at the time was seen as a source of revenue to balance a tax break for retired state workers. Overwhelming public opposition and a governor’s veto killed the bill but not the voting record. For a while Mr. Michaud, the Senate president pro-tem, responded to the charge that he voted to tax Social Security by repeating pointlessly that Maine did not have such a tax, then switched to highlighting the fact that he voted to sustain the governor’s veto, an obviously defensive vote. His lack of candor on this issue has hurt his credibility.

A second instance of dissembling came earlier this week during a televised debate, when he was asked about the prospects of war with Iraq. His began his answer generally following cautions expressed by many members of Congress, then he offered this sentence: “I don’t think that back here in the U.S. there is a real threat of more terrorism happening.” On its face, it is an assertion without evidence and contradicted by many intelligence discoveries and arrests worldwide since Sept. 11, 2001.

Sen. Michaud later said he was referring only to the imminent possibility of terrorism from Iraq, and subsequently found a quote from CIA Director George Tenet to support this position. But rather than just concede that his debate comment was unclear, he charged that his opponent Kevin Raye had “chosen to resort to a campaign of distortion” by highlighting it for the press. But the comment wasn’t clear, and the GOP was well within political bounds to question it.

Neither question about Social Security nor about war with Iraq could be considered surprises, yet Mr. Michaud stumbled with both on these occasions, suggesting a kind of rushed thinking that fills in when preparation is lacking. That would be disappointing, given the length of this campaign and the number of times these issues have been raised.

The senator is well known from his long service in the Legislature and well known for being better than what the public has seen lately. Even with only a few weeks left in this race, there remains time for him to change the tone of these types of responses by choosing his words with more care.