Raye, Michaud head down to the wire

Seeking to shore up what polls suggest are their wavering bases, 2nd District rivals Mike Michaud and Kevin Raye hit the road Friday for the last weekend of campaigning in one of the tightest races nationwide.

Raye, a Republican, was in Bangor Friday afternoon with his former boss, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, to kick off his “Ready On Day One Express,” a bus trip that will take him to 21 towns throughout the district in the final three days of the race.

“Are you ready for a big party on Tuesday night?” Raye asked a sign-waving supporter over the din of rock singer John Mellencamp’s “Small Town,” which blared repeatedly from a portable radio outside the campaign’s Bangor office.

“It is all going to come down to who gets out their voters,” Raye later told about 40 supporters who stood – and even danced – outside the Harlow Street headquarters, to welcome Raye and Snowe, who flew from Presque Isle to Bangor to Lewiston on Friday with her former chief of staff.

Democrat Michaud of East Millinocket also has a full weekend of campaign stops planned in every county in the sprawling district -geographically the largest district east of the Mississippi River.

In Orono on Friday, Michaud spent the morning visiting with staff and students at the University of Maine’s highly touted Advanced Engineering Wood Composites Center, where he stressed his long legislative record, part of which is bringing research and development money to the state.

As Raye creeps up in the polls, Michaud sees little sleep in his future.

“We knew this was going to be a close race from the get-go,” Michaud said. “We believe the key is to get the voters out, and we’ll be working on that all weekend.”

In one of the closest – and most closely watched – congressional races in the nation, experts agree that turnout could decide the tossup contest to fill the seat soon to be vacated by U.S. Rep John Baldacci.

University of Maine at Farmington political science professor Jim Melcher said the candidates had to shore up their political bases.

A recent poll found a high number of undecided voters among independents and within each candidate’s party.

In the Oct. 23-26 poll, conducted for the Bangor Daily News, WLBZ 2 Bangor, WCSH 6 Portland and Maine Public Broadcasting, both Michaud and Raye held only 64 percent of their party’s likely voters, with an unusually high 19 percent still undecided.

“There are some liberals who still want to be sold about Michaud, and some Republicans not completely sold on Raye,” said Melcher, speculating that a higher turnout could favor the Democrat. “That’s what they need to do, and that’s some of what they will be doing.”

The weekend campaigning comes amid a plethora of mailers and television advertising in the race. Most recently, households in the district received glossy mailings – both aimed at women voters – questioning Michaud’s support for abortion rights or Raye’s commitment to health care reform.

Gov. Angus King on Friday even weighed in on one of the GOP television ads, calling its accuracy and fairness into question. The ad is critical of Michaud for supporting increases in the gas tax and meals and lodging tax.

“I sincerely hope that Maine people take a hard look at these political tactics and consider that the tax increases being used in these ads are often necessary and considered only after all other options have been exhausted,” King said in a statement.

Melcher predicted that while the negative ads for interest groups might continue, the candidates themselves – both in their actions and advertisements – likely would accentuate the positive to woo undecided voters.

“Given how negative the campaign has been, both of them have to be seen doing positive things … shaking hands, bus tours,” he said. “They need to give voters a reason to vote for them, and not against the other guy.”

Free-lance writer Rhonda Houston contributed to this report.