Primary contenders in final push

Candidates in today’s primary election races for governor and U.S. Senate hit the roads and the airwaves Monday in a final push to persuade voters before they head to the polls.

The Republican primary for governor remains the most closely watched among the three contested races on today’s statewide ballot, which is expected to draw less than one-third of the state’s party-affiliated voters, according to elections officials.

There are no statewide referendum questions to help attract Mainers to vote.

The GOP race features former U.S. Rep. David Emery of St. George and state Sens. Peter Mills of Cornville and Chandler Woodcock of Farmington. The winner will become the party’s nominee and its hope of unseating incumbent Gov. John Baldacci of Bangor in November.

On Monday, Woodcock and Mills each claimed that momentum for their candidacies had intensified over the weekend. Mills started his day at 2:30 a.m. with a trip to meet the shipbuilders at Bath Iron Works. Woodcock was calling supporters, thanking them for their help and encouraging them to get out the GOP vote. Emery toured the Lewiston-Auburn area greeting residents and shaking hands.

The outcome of the Republican matchup was the subject of considerable speculation on Maine GOP Web sites, with supporters of each of the three touting the merits of their candidates.

On the Democratic ballot, Baldacci, who is seeking his second term in the Blaine House, faces token opposition from computer specialist Christopher Miller of Gray.

Baldacci spent Monday traveling the state – not campaigning, his aides said, but on official Blaine House business – addressing a convention of public utilities officials in Rockport and signing a bill in Swanville designed to improve rural access to the Internet.

“There has been a lot of progress under his administration, but he is not satisfied,” Baldacci campaign manager Jesse Connolly said Monday in a telephone interview from campaign headquarters. “There is a lot left to do and he needs voters’ help to get there.”

Miller on Monday was scheduled to appear on a public affairs program on a Portland television station.

“I want voters to think about what Maine will look like in 20 years,” said Miller, whose campaign has focused on energy issues. “I want them to think about what we’ll be leaving our kids.”

In a third primary contest for governor, Maine Green Independent Party candidate Pat LaMarche is running unopposed.

The winners of today’s Democratic and Republican gubernatorial primaries will face LaMarche as well as four independents on the Nov. 7 General Election ballot.

On Friday, independent gubernatorial candidate Barbara Merrill of Appleton officially qualified for public financing of her campaign, according to state elections officials. Officials were still in the process of certifying independent John Michael, a former state representative from Auburn.

The race’s two other independents, David John Jones of Falmouth and Phillip Morris NaPier of Windham, are running as privately financed candidates.

Elsewhere on today’s ballot, two Democrats are competing to see who will represent the party in its effort to unseat U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.

Today’s U.S. Senate primary pits Jean Hay Bright, a writer and organic farmer from Dixmont, against Eric Mehnert, an Orono lawyer.

Both candidates spent much of Monday in Portland, where they met with supporters and were interviewed on local radio stations. Both had similar messages to voters heading to the polls today.

“Vote for the America you want to live in,” Hay Bright said between campaign stops.

“They need to elect a candidate that gives them hope in the belief they can make a difference,” Mehnert said.

Primary election results can be viewed as they arrive tonight at www.bangordailynews.com.