AUGUSTA – Maine’s gubernatorial race has become a minor stampede of more than a dozen candidates, a large field for a race in which an incumbent is seeking re-election but not an unprecedented expression of interest in the state’s highest office.

Political observers say the wave of interest stems from a variety of factors, including the lure of public campaign money, a perceived vulnerability of incumbent Democratic Gov. John Baldacci and, for some, a golden opportunity to mount the soapbox to get a message out.

Campaign oddsmakers give fewer than a half dozen candidates any real chance of becoming a true contender, and no challenger appears to have staked a commanding claim.

“It’s Baldacci and all the rest,” said Mark Brewer, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Maine.

As of last week, 14 candidates for governor had signed up with the state election watchdog agency, which registers every candidate who intends to raise or spend money. But the number could shrink after what amounts to a first cut occurs next week.

By 5 p.m. Wednesday, party-backed candidates must submit nominating petitions with at least 2,000 voters’ names to state election officials. Nonparty or independent hopefuls get until 9pJune 1 to turn in a minimum of 4,000 signatures.

The next cut will come in party primaries on June 13. As of now, four Republicans are in the running, including former congressman David Emery of St. George, state Sens. Peter Mills of Cornville and Chandler Woodcock of Farmington, and little-known J. Martin Vachon of Hancock County. Mills and Woodcock are seeking Clean Election eligibility.

On the Democratic side, neither listed candidate besides Baldacci has much of a political track record.

Like Baldacci, both are privately financed. They include Robert Bizier, a carpenter from Albion, and Christopher Miller of Gray, a Dennis Kucinich activist.

No fewer than eight candidates have declared their intention to seek campaign money from the taxpayer-financed Clean Election Fund, but qualifying in the gubernatorial race is no easy feat. Failure to qualify could knock some candidates out of the running.

Among those seeking Clean Election funds is the Green Independent Party’s Pat LaMarche. The Yarmouth resident won enough votes in the race for governor in 1998 to help her party retain official state recognition and faces a similar challenge this time.

State Rep. Barbara Merrill of Appleton quit the Democratic Party before going independent and announcing her candidacy. She, too, is seeking Clean Election eligibility. Independent Nancy Oden, an environmental activist from Jonesboro, started out as a “clean” applicant but has since decided to raise private funds.

Another independent, Bob Mills Jr. of Biddeford, is state chairman of the Veterans Party, which is not recognized as a party in Maine. Mills has also dropped efforts to qualify for public funding.

But four other independents are listed by the state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices as public-funding hopefuls.

They are Alex Hammer of Bangor, who describes himself as a fiscally conservative social moderate; former Lewiston Mayor John Jenkins; real estate developer David John Jones of Falmouth; and safety manager Jeffrey Sanborn of Gray.

Independent Bruce Fleming of Bangor, who doesn’t plan to raise or spend money, is mounting a write-in campaign.

While the roster is large, it is not a record. Bowdoin College political scientist Christian Potholm points to the 1994 gubernatorial race, when eight Republicans, five Democrats and two independents – including ultimate winner Angus King – ran. The difference that time was the governor’s office was open.

“Still I think this year shows the appeal of taxpayers’ funding of the race,” Potholm said. “Where else can you get upward of $1.2 million to promote yourself?”

Public financing “makes it easier for some of these less-well-known candidates,” agreed UMaine’s Brewer. Some see Baldacci, with sagging poll numbers, shaky state finances and locked in a fierce debate over his prized Dirigo health insurance program, as vulnerable.

Brewer said some challengers may recall the first President George Bush’s seeming invincibility early in the 1992 race, only to see his popularity drop like a stone and one of several Democratic hopefuls – Bill Clinton – come along and beat him.

“A lot of people may look around and say, ‘Maybe I’ve got a shot here,”‘ said Brewer.

Another factor contributing to the large field may be the “political culture” of Maine, a town-meeting state where participation in politics has long been encouraged, said Brewer.

The last gubernatorial race in 2002 had its own early entrants but had only five candidates leading up to the single contested primary. Just two candidates qualified for public funding. Only one – the Greens’ Jonathan Carter – made it to the general election.

This year, the size of the gubernatorial field seeking public money has gotten the attention of the ethics commission as well as Clean Election advocates, who aren’t sure if there will be enough money for this year’s publicly financed political races.

“There simply is no way to accurately project what the required funding for these races will be,” ethics commission Chair Jean Ginn Marvin told the Appropriations Committee last month. “Our history is much too short.”