Republicans near caucus participation goal of 80%

AUGUSTA – Maine Republicans were moving closer Tuesday to their goal of having party members from 80 percent of the state’s towns participate in this weekend’s presidential preference caucuses.

Party Executive Director Julie O’Brien said GOP activists in at least 372 towns have reported that local caucuses are scheduled, and more towns were setting up gatherings as the weekend draws closer.

State party leaders a year ago set a goal of having 80 percent of Maine’s roughly 500 municipalities take part in the 2008 presidential caucuses, O’Brien said. If 400 towns hold caucuses, the participation rate would be about 80 percent.

Meanwhile, Mainers may be seeing more traffic from presidential contenders and their surrogates in the days ahead. Ron Paul was in Maine on Monday, and O’Brien said one of Mitt Romney’s sons has been inquiring about a possible visit. O’Brien said she wouldn’t be surprised to see other campaign visits to the state after Florida’s primaries and before Maine Republicans start gathering.

“They are paying attention to us,” said O’Brien.

The bulk of the Republican caucuses will be held Saturday with some Friday and a few more on Sunday. Maine Democrats hold their caucuses on Feb. 10.

This weekend’s GOP caucus is something of a departure from the last competitive presidential preference contest in 2000. That was the second and last round in which Maine held presidential primaries. George W. Bush was winner in the GOP race, John McCain finished second and Alan Keyes third.

The presidential primaries were marked by low turnout – less than 16 percent of the voting age population. That was still better than in 1996, when the low 10 percent turnout was attributed largely to the lack of a Democratic rival to then-President Bill Clinton.

But the Republicans and Democrats never abandoned their caucuses even while experimenting with primaries. Caucuses set into motion the process of selecting the national convention delegates, who do the actual nominating of presidential candidates.

Weather does not appear to be a major threat to caucus turnout this year. The National Weather Service predicted some light snow or snow showers on Friday and Saturday, but no major storms were in sight.