A Lewiston businessman on Monday became the first Republican to issue a challenge to freshman U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud for his 2nd Congressional District seat.

Bob Stone, a 55-year-old former banker, counted job creation among his priorities should he be elected.

“Jobs make all the difference,” Stone said in a Monday telephone interview, during which he lamented the 2nd District’s economic doldrums. “In a pro-business environment, everything else kind of rises.”

Stone is perhaps best known statewide for spearheading November’s 1C campaign, which asked voters to reject tax reform initiatives put forth by the Maine Municipal Association and the governor’s office.

His congressional run won’t be Stone’s first foray into politics as a candidate. In 2002, he lost in a lopsided race to Democrat Margaret Rotundo in his bid for the Maine Senate, capturing just 30 percent of the vote in Lewiston, where just 17 percent of voters are registered Republicans.

Analysts say Stone’s primary candidacy is likely to attract challengers within the party as the GOP seeks to reclaim the congressional seat that has been in Democratic hands for more a decade.

“I’m surprised at this late stage there haven’t been more rumblings from other Republicans,” said Jim Melcher, a political science professor at the University of Maine at Farmington. “The right Republican can get elected in that district, and I can see them saying that if they don’t knock Michaud off this time, he could be there for a long, long time.”

Also on the GOP’s short list of potential candidates is Brian Hamel, the president of the Loring Development Authority in Limestone. Hamel, still undecided about a candidacy, said Monday the prospect of a primary contest against Stone would not affect his decision.

“I’m still very, very interested,” Hamel said. “I welcome competition if I decide to run.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee, viewing Michaud as weak, has targeted the seat as a potential win for the party in 2004. The group issues almost weekly press releases painting the first-term congressman as blindly following the party’s liberal leadership to the detriment of his constituents.

Despite the GOP’s pre-election efforts, however, two of its biggest names aren’t likely to be among the contenders.

Last week, the GOP’s 2002 nominee, Kevin Raye, announced that he wouldn’t challenge Michaud for the seat this year. Michaud defeated Raye, a former top aide to U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, with 52 percent of the vote.

Former Bangor Mayor Tim Woodcock, who finished a close second to Raye in the party’s 2002 primary, said Monday that he soon would make his intentions known. Republican insiders, however, call a Woodcock candidacy unlikely.

Michaud spokeswoman Monica Castellanos said that whomever the Republicans fielded against the congressman, he would run a “positive campaign focusing on his record of accomplishments.”