Mike Michaud Rural roots frame candidate’s D.C. bid

Democrat Mike Michaud took a last-minute look through his notes before a recent afternoon address to a throng of raucous, sign-waving supporters at a rally in Lewiston’s historic Kennedy Park.

The blue-collar candidate isn’t much on stump speeches, although this day he’s in front of a friendly crowd in the Democratic stronghold, certain to play a key role in his bid to replace John Baldacci as Maine’s 2nd District congressman.

First appearing a bit distracted by a competing contingent of anti-war demonstrators there for visiting House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, Michaud regained his stride -after tripping over the Missouri congressman’s name a few times – and settled into the common-man themes that helped him best five rivals in the party’s June primary.

“Maybe I’m just too much of a Mainer, but I don’t think Washington insiders like my opponent have all the answers,” the 46-year-old millworker and veteran state lawmaker said of his Republican opponent, Kevin Raye, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe.

“If you want the job done right you have to send a working person to Washington,” he boomed into the microphone to a spirited chorus of “whoo-hooooooo!”

Two weeks later in Bangor, Michaud again hammered at one of his campaign’s foremost issues, joining laid-off workers outside the federal building to protest trade policies responsible, he said, for the free fall of the state’s once formidable forest industry.

“Right now trade is killing us,” Michaud said over the din of midday traffic near the rally, where he blasted Raye for supporting “fast track” trade authority that prevents Congress from amending trade agreements negotiated by the president.

“I’m moving up here so I can vote for you,” telephone company worker Patrick Shane told Michaud after the rally, lamenting that his Vinalhaven address – in the 1st District – prevented him from supporting his fellow union member on Nov. 5.

“When you meet a candidate like Mike, it’s like trying to elect a co-worker,” Shane later told a reporter.

Michaud’s strong labor ties served him well in the primary, where he trounced his competition in mill towns, earning more than 10 percent of his total vote in just three communities – Millinocket and East Millinocket, where Great Northern Paper mills are located, and neighboring Medway, his hometown.

With a week left in one of the tightest races in the nation, Michaud continues to stress the importance of his 28 years at Great Northern as well as his 22-year tenure in the Legislature.

But a long stay in Augusta translates into thousands of roll call votes, a few of which have come back to haunt the Democrat, who in recent weeks has spent much of his time deflecting criticism for votes to tax higher-income Social Security benefits and to limit abortion rights.

Michaud would much prefer to concentrate on his accomplishments in the Legislature, among them securing increases in funding for education, research and development, and family planning.

He also co-sponsored Maine’s court-challenged law that would allow the state to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices. Michaud said, if elected, his first order of business would be to introduce a national version of the legislation.

Long before Michaud reached these political heights, he was a freshman state representative who learned the protocol from then House Speaker John Martin, D-Eagle Lake.

The two soon became political and business allies, later co-owning sporting camps north of Portage. To fund his primary run, Michaud sold his share of the camps to Martin and another investor, he said.

While Martin may have shown him the ropes, it was Michaud who quietly rose through the ranks to become Senate president under a power-sharing agreement with Republicans in an evenly divided chamber.

Plain-spoken, Michaud still appears uncomfortable talking about his accomplishments, preferring instead to let his campaign literature do the talking.

“I’m not one who over the years has bragged about some of the stuff I’ve been able to do,” Michaud said near the end of the interview. “I just want to get things done.”

On the Net: www.michaudforcongress.com.