Job issue drives 2nd District race

BANGOR – In a state that leads the nation in lost manufacturing jobs, the race to represent Maine’s struggling 2nd Congressional District appears destined to be a showdown over the economy – and little else.

“The candidate who makes the strongest case they can bring jobs to the region will be in good shape,” said Richard Powell, a University of Maine political science professor.

Almost as a primer for his re-election bid, Democratic U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud on Friday outlined his job creation credentials to a group of Bangor-area business leaders at Husson College’s Center for Family Business.

“When you look at economic development, you can pass federal legislation and set up programs, but it’s building relationships that gets people to invest in Maine,” Michaud told members of the Action Committee of 50, rattling off a list of initiatives he sponsored during his first term.

Among those highlighted by Michaud – a member of the Transportation, Small Business, and Veterans Affairs committees – were efforts to increase Maine’s transportation funding and create a regional economic development commission to help direct federal money to Maine.

But it’s trade – already a hot-button issue in the presidential race – that most animates Michaud, a 30-year papermaker from East Millinocket. Michaud favors pulling out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he contends has eliminated thousands of Maine jobs.

“It’s not fair trade,” Michaud said in response to a question from the audience. “Members of Congress from both sides … are starting to pay attention to what’s at the crux of us losing all these manufacturing jobs.”

Michaud’s likely opponent this year is Loring Development Authority chief Brian Hamel.

Earlier this month, Hamel told the Penobscot County Republican Caucus he’s prepared to put up his economic credentials against those of Michaud, whom he portrays as a longtime politician with no practical job creation experience.

“We need someone in Washington who has actually created jobs,” Hamel told the caucus, stressing the more than 1,500 jobs added at the Loring Air Force Base in Limestone under his watch.

At the national level, Republicans have set their sights on the Maine race as a chance to pick up what was, before Gov. John Baldacci held the seat, Republican.

But the sprawling district has trended Democratic for years, Powell noted, arguing that the Republican unseating an incumbent with lifelong ties to the area would be a difficult task.

This year’s race probably won’t bear much resemblance to the 2002 free-for-all to fill the open seat of the outgoing Baldacci, who ran – and won – a race for governor.

In the clamor to replace Baldacci, jobs and trade mattered, but Michaud and his eventual Republican rival, Kevin Raye, spent just as much time sparring over Social Security privatization, the Iraq war, prescription drug benefits and abortion rights.

That contest was also replete with complaints about negative advertising, something pundits say likely will return in this targeted race that will attract substantial campaign money from both sides.

This year, Michaud, with $500,000 already in his campaign coffers, appears to hold a huge financial advantage over Hamel, who has just begun his fund-raising efforts.