Blaine House race may be costliest yet

AUGUSTA – With seven candidates on the November ballot, Maine has its largest gubernatorial field ever.

And with three – and possibly four – of the candidates relying on public financing, the race for the Blaine House could be among the most expensive.

Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, who is seeking a second term, is financing his campaign privately. Based on how much is spent on his behalf, each of the publicly funded candidates could receive up to $1.2 million from the Clean Election Fund.

In additional to Baldacci, independents David Jones and Phillip Napier are relying on private financing. Republican Chandler Woodcock, Green Independent Patricia LaMarche and independent Barbara Merrill have qualified for public money. The state has yet to rule on independent John Michael’s bid for public funds.

Under the Clean Election Act, each gubernatorial candidate is eligible for $200,000 for a primary campaign and $400,000 for the general election. Each could also receive up to $800,000 more in “matching funds” to keep pace with a free-spending candidate who uses private money.

Before this year, the largest number of candidates on the ballot in a Maine governor’s race was five.

In the 2002 governor’s race, when public financing first became available to gubernatorial candidates, only one of the four general-election candidates was publicly funded.

State records and news reports indicate that even a $4 million campaign would be more expensive than any governor’s race at least as far back as 1990. The closest would be the 1994 race, which cost about $3.8 million.

Woodcock, LaMarche and Merrill say they would not be in the race if they had to bankroll their campaigns by seeking private donations.

“I’m not independently wealthy, and it’s impossible for me to raise those kinds of funds,” said Woodcock, a state senator and retired high school teacher who won the GOP nomination last week by defeating two challengers – one privately funded and the other publicly funded.

Baldacci raised $1.4 million privately for his successful 2002 campaign. His campaign expects to raise more than $1 million this time.

When Baldacci, and any groups working independently on his behalf, raise or spend more than $400,000, the publicly funded candidates will get more money from the state.

Even if each of them gets the full $1.2 million, there is no guarantee that the money will translate to high vote totals, as evidenced by the showing of Jonathan Carter, the Green candidate for governor in 1994 and 2002.

When Carter ran for governor as a privately funded candidate 12 years ago, he spent $29,000 and won 6.4 percent of the vote. As a publicly financed candidate in 2002, he received $902,615 from the state but came away with only 9.2 percent of the vote.