Maine Democratic Party director to leave position

The Maine Democratic Party’s executive director will step down from his post next week to begin work on a political campaign in southern New England.

Rich Pelletier-Simpson, 36, will leave Dec. 13, he said Monday, but he still is deciding between two 2006 campaigns – the attorney general’s race in Massachusetts and the U.S. Senate race in Rhode Island – on which to work.

The resignation comes as Democrats and their Republican counterparts ready for the 2006 election season here in Maine. Next year’s ballot will feature a few pivotal races including re-election bids of Democratic Gov. John Baldacci and Republican U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe as well a full slate of legislative contests that could reconfigure a closely divided, Democratically controlled House and Senate.

Pelletier-Simpson had worked on a number of campaigns beginning with Baldacci’s first run for Congress in 1994 before taking the director’s job a year ago.

Maine Democratic Party Chairman Pat Colwell said Monday that Maggie Allen, the party’s finance director, would serve as acting executive director on Pelletier-Simpson’s departure.

In a Monday interview, Pelletier-Simpson said the party has made strides in 2005 in building its network of local supporters and candidates, but needed to better tailor its message to its traditional base of support.

“I think it’s time the Democrats focus on the message that resonates with working people, and they’ve had a great history in that area,” Pelletier-Simpson said, counting the party’s support for raising the minimum wage and Dirigo Health among its recent accomplishments. “Democrats haven’t done a great job getting that message out.”

The Maine Republican Party, which recently lost chairman Randy Bumps to the Republican National Committee, also has been busy in its local recruiting efforts.

Encouraged by Baldacci’s sagging poll numbers, Maine GOP Executive Director Mike Leavitt said Monday he believed voters were ready for a change in leadership in Augusta.

“There’s a lot of factors that don’t bode well for an incumbent,” Leavitt said, citing a recent focus on the traditionally Republican issue of tax reform.

Leavitt even found hope of reclaiming the Blaine House in a recent prediction from Campaigns and Elections magazine showing Baldacci with a 56 percent chance of winning re-election.

“The truth is [Baldacci] is a very good campaigner,” Leavitt said. “You couldn’t ask for any better than a 50-50 shot against an incumbent.”

The Republicans have three major candidates hoping to challenge Baldacci in 2006. Among them are state Sens. Peter Mills and Chandler Woodcock, and former U.S. Rep. David Emery.

Colwell on Monday said the magazine’s predictions were similar to internal polling done by the party, and more telling of the governor’s chances in 2006 than lower job approval ratings in some statewide polls.

“I think voters know that Governor Baldacci has had to make some tough choices,” Colwell said. “And they trust him to do that.”