Blue-collar candidate Michael Michaud, Democrat 2nd Congressional District

The sight of congressmen on a golf course is hardly a rare one.

Odds are, however, Maine’s 2nd District Rep. Mike Michaud won’t be among them.

For one, the millworker turned congressman from East Millinocket doesn’t play the typically white-collar sport. Secondly, Michaud’s aides say, his well established reputation for putting in long hours on the job – first earned during his 22 years in the Maine Legislature – leaves no time for golf.

“He’s too busy working for much else,” said his spokeswoman, Monica Castellanos.

So, Michaud’s brief stop at the Poland Spring Country Club during a recent charity tournament was somewhat uncharacteristic of the 49-year-old freshman U.S. House member, who, battling a cold and beholden to a tight schedule, preferred to chat with people in the clubhouse rather than hit the links.

In some ways, analysts say it is Michaud’s working class roots that thus far have foiled his Republican challenger’s attempts to paint him as a Washington insider beholden to special interest money.

“Trying to pull that off against a freshman, particularly a blue-collar guy like Michaud, is going to be a tough sell,” said Jim Melcher, a political scientist at the University of Maine at Farmington.

While some analysts, including one prominent Republican strategist – have labeled Michaud “unbeatable,” in his race against Republican Brian Hamel, the National Republican Congressional Committee still sees him as vulnerable.

The NRCC and Hamel’s campaign routinely criticize Michaud for holding “San Francisco values,” a reference to votes he has shared with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., including his opposition to a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages.

But, contrary to the NRCC’s liberal label, analysts say it was Michaud’s relative conservatism and blue-collar image that helped him win the open seat in 2002 after a bruising, six-way primary battle and an equally combative general election against Republican Kevin Raye, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe.

That 2002 race drew some national attention, with the New York Times’ then-chief political correspondent – intrigued he said by the contrast between the millworker and the longtime Washington staffer – making the trip north to observe the race.

This year, the Times correspondent would see a slightly more-polished Michaud on the campaign trail as the incumbent breezed into Simone’s Hot Dog stand in Lewiston, the district’s largest city which Michaud carried by nearly 4,000 votes in 2002.

Although he politely and repeatedly declined a quick lunch upon entering Simone’s – Lewiston’s political equivalent of Bangor’s Momma Baldacci’s – he nevertheless smiled and accepted a hot dog handed to him by a supporter, eating it as he talked with the lunch crowd recently.

In some ways, Michaud appears to have patterned his first term after that of his predecessor, now Maine Gov. John Baldacci, who like Michaud returned to Maine most weekends during the session.

In Washington, Michaud said he has become more adept at politics and policy-making in his two-year tenure, during which he has served on the transportation and veteran’s affairs committees.

Besides being an outspoken critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Michaud also introduced America Rx, a national equivalent of Maine’s landmark prescription drug plan that allows the state to negotiate for lower prices.

Although the bill, stalled in committee, has little chance of passing, Michaud told a group of seniors that the Medicare prescription drug bill passed in its stead was “a sham” that did more to appease the drug industry than help Maine seniors.

“This bill does not need a little tinkering,” Michaud recently told an afternoon meeting of the Androscoggin County chapter of the AARP in Lewiston. “It needs a major engine overhaul.”

Maurice Fournier, amid handing out raffle tickets to those who entered the AARP meeting, also counted healthcare among his top concerns.

“I told him to keep fighting for us,” said Fournier, a 72-year-old Korean war veteran, who noted the difficulty of advancing Michaud’s agenda in the event the GOP retains control of the House. “But the way things are, it’s not going to be easy.”

On the Net: www.michaudforcongress.com.

Michaud on the issues:

Iraq War-terrorism: Voted for a $63 billion appropriation to fund U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Voted against the $87 billion supplemental budget for Iraq operations, saying the bill failed to provide an exit strategy.

Abortion rights: Does not support a constitutional amendment to Roe v. Wade. Opposes abortion except in cases of rape or incest, or if the life of the mother is in danger. Voted for a ban on partial birth abortion, with a health exception for the mother. Voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as the ?Laci Peterson Law,? which made it a federal crime to kill an unborn child.

Economy-taxes: Supports U.S. withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement. Opposed the Bush tax cuts, supporting alternatives that would have targeted middle class taxpayers. Supports an increase in federal minimum wage.

Health care: Voted against the Medicare prescription drug bill. Introduced America Rx, a prescription drug plan based on Maine?s law that allows the state to negotiate for lower drug prices. Michaud?s bill is stalled in committee.