BANGOR – The head of President Bush’s re-election campaign on Friday counted victories in Maine – and New England – well within the president’s reach despite disappointing showings throughout much of the region in 2000.

“Mainers are ruggedly independent people who expect the cause to be proven to them, and if you carry your burden of proof, you can expect their support,” said former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, the national chairman of the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. “We know that we can win here.”

Racicot, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, made the remarks at an afternoon event in Bangor, where the campaign announced its county leadership teams.

Among the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign county chairs announced Friday are Maine Rep. Richard Rosen of Hancock County, former congressional candidate Richard Campbell of Penobscot County, Maine Sen. Carol Weston of Waldo County and Maine Sen. Kevin Shorey of Washington County.

If the 2000 election is any indication, however, the president could face an uphill battle in Maine, where former Vice President Al Gore defeated Bush by about 30,000 votes.

In the weeks leading up to the election, Bush advance people had all but conceded losing the 1st Congressional District – which they did by nearly 25,000 votes out of about 350,000 cast.

The state’s more conservative 2nd District, however, was up for grabs, they insisted, and Bush made a campaign stop in Bangor shortly before the election. Indeed, the race was much tighter here, with Bush falling only about 6,000 votes short.

Bush’s fate was much the same in the rest of New England, where he lost by about 1 million votes, winning only in New Hampshire.

Next election year will be different, Racicot predicted, with the campaign stressing the president’s anti-terrorism efforts and a domestic agenda that has resulted in a prescription drug benefit under Medicare and higher educational standards.

In addition, Racicot said the campaign would focus on grass-roots organizing rather than rely on an intensive media campaign.

Racicot will undoubtedly be watching the results of Monday’s Iowa Democratic caucus, which could give an early indication as to who Bush will face in November.

Among the leaders in the Democratic pack is former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, whose campaign this week issued a press release asserting that Racicot’s Wednesday trip to Dean’s home state to file paperwork for that state’s primary amounted to yet another “Dean bashing” expedition by a threatened Bush campaign.

On Friday, Racicot called the Dean campaign “incredibly arrogant,” contending that his Vermont visit was in part due to the fact that he had not yet visited the state.

“Is he going to file papers in Massachusetts, North Carolina and everywhere else?” countered Dean’s Maine spokeswoman Melanie Dees, rattling off the home states of other Democratic candidates. “I don’t think so.”

As for the rest of the Democratic field, Racicot had few kind words about the tenor of the primary debate thus far.

“The rhetoric has been extreme and vitriolic,” Racicot said. “I don’t think they’re doing themselves any favors.”

Maine Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Gwethalyn Phillips said the intensity of the debate was due to the catastrophic nature of the president’s domestic and foreign policies.

“Bush can say we’re being vitriolic, but we see what the reality is and we’re talking about it,” Phillips said. “And we’re going to continue to talk about it.”