PORTLAND – The chairman of the Democratic National Committee said Tuesday he was “shocked” by Al Gore’s endorsement of Howard Dean for the party’s nomination for president.

Terry McAuliffe told reporters he was meeting with Gov. John Baldacci in Augusta on Monday when an assistant walked in with a note informing him that the former vice president was endorsing Dean.

McAuliffe wouldn’t go so far as to say the endorsement wraps up the nomination for the former Vermont governor. He said whoever gets the nomination will be a formidable candidate against President Bush in next year’s election.

But, he added, “If Howard Dean is the nominee, I can tell you he has excited a passion. You can feel it in the grass roots around this country. I think the Bush campaign is actually scared.”

McAuliffe was in Maine to raise money, meet with Baldacci and visit with Democrats.

McAuliffe said Tuesday that one of the orders of business with Baldacci was to discuss what role the governor will play at the national Democratic convention in Boston next summer. Baldacci is the only Democratic governor in New England.

McAuliffe said he also came to Maine because it is one of 20 or so states that have been designated “target states” for the 2004 election.

Both of Maine’s congressmen are Democrats, but while 1st District Rep. Tom Allen seems comfortably ensconced in office midway through a fourth term, 2nd District Rep. Michael Michaud is a rookie.

That puts Michaud in the most vulnerable period for a congressional incumbent, according to conventional wisdom.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has kept close tabs on the former state lawmaker from East Millinocket and has sought to highlight elements of his voting record at odds with GOP positions in frequent media releases.

Michaud was the beneficiary of an Augusta fund-raising reception Monday night with Baldacci and McAuliffe serving as headliners.

Michaud couldn’t attend, however, because he was still in Washington, where, earlier in the day, he and Allen voted in the minority to oppose a $373 billion spending bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.

On Tuesday, McAuliffe and Dorothy Melanson, chairwoman of the Maine Democratic Party, met with reporters at the Portland Harbor Hotel.

McAuliffe said he suspects Gore issued his endorsement of Dean in hopes that it would accelerate the process of picking a Democratic presidential nominee. That way, McAuliffe said, the party could come together that much sooner to focus its sights on defeating the president in the election.

He predicted the party will have a nominee by March 10.

“When we have a nominee, we’ll explode out of March,” he said. “And we’ll never look back.”

He said he expects a “feisty” campaign against Bush, who will have more than $200 million to spend on the election. He also expects the Democratic platform to focus on jobs, education and health care.

“Once we have that nominee, we’re off,” McAuliffe said. “It’s going to be a close race, no question about it.”