AUGUSTA – The Maine Republican Party state committee meets today to elect a new slate of officers, with former state Rep. Randy Bumps of China appearing to be the odds-on favorite to become party chairman.

Third-term GOP Chairwoman Kathy Watson is not expected to seek re-election.

Other names as potential candidates have circulated but Bumps may end up running unopposed, close observers said this week.

Bumps has been U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ state director and representative to the GOP state committee. He served as executive director of the Bush-Cheney campaign organization in Maine.

The biennial elections come at a time of mixed feelings for Maine Republicans.

Despite some GOP gains in the state House of Representatives, November voting appears to have preserved Democratic edges in the Maine Senate and House, although final determinations of three House district elections is still up to the House Elections Committee.

Earlier this week, the Democratic Senate advantage grew from 18-17 to 19-16 when Sen. Arthur Mayo of Bath switched his party registration from Republican to Democrat.

Even while President Bush won re-election, he lost for a second time in the state where his family has long maintained a summer home.

Both Democratic U.S. Reps. Tom Allen in the 1st District and Michael Michaud in the 2nd District won new terms with relative ease in a year when neither of Maine’s Republican U.S. senators – Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins – was on the ballot.

Maine Democrats are slated to pick a new chairman of their own next month. Incumbent Dorothy Melanson is expected to step down.

The candidacy of the outgoing speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, Patrick Colwell, has been “encouraged” by Gov. John Baldacci, according to gubernatorial spokesman Lee Umphrey, but several others have expressed interest in the job.

Baldacci, a former state senator and congressman, is midway through the four-year gubernatorial term he won in November 2002.