4,000 absentee ballots presage heavy caucus turnout in Maine

Democratic leaders made final preparations Friday for Sunday’s caucuses, which will elect delegates to the state convention and apportion support to each of the candidates.

Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Arden Manning said the party had received more than 4,000 absentee ballots by Wednesday’s deadline. The ballots will be counted on Sunday when votes from towns and cities across the state are tallied.

It’s the second time the party has made absentee ballots available. Four years ago, the party received about 2,000 ballots for the caucuses, which were won by Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the eventual presidential nominee.

Manning said the high level of excitement about this year’s race, combined with an aggressive push by the party to get word out about absentee voting, doubled the number of ballots received to 4,049.

U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy set the stage Friday for pre-caucus visits to Maine by the Democratic presidential aspirants as he told senior citizens that Barack Obama’s inspirational qualities make him a better choice than Hillary Clinton.

Kennedy, speaking at an assisted living center in Portland, said Obama and Clinton have similar views on the issues. But he said that as more people see Obama, more like him.

“Barack Obama has the inspirational qualities to be able to bring people together, to bring the young and the old, north, south, east and west, together, and from the bottom up develop the kind of team to get things done for Maine, for Massachusetts, for the rest of the country,” Kennedy said.

Among the Maine politicians who accompanied Kennedy were state House Speaker Glenn Cummings of Portland and former governor and congressman Joseph Brennan. Later in the day, Kennedy attended a rally at Bates College in Lewiston.

On Saturday, both Obama and Clinton are due in the state, Obama for a rally in Bangor and Clinton for “town hall” gatherings in Orono and Lewiston. On Thursday night, former President Clinton campaigned for his wife in Portland.

Kennedy endorsed Obama in January, saying at the time that it wasn’t intended as a repudiation of Clinton’s campaign or of her husband and that he would support her if she wins the party’s nomination.

Showing up Friday in Portland with his two dogs in tow, Kennedy spoke highly of Obama’s work in the Senate on such issues as immigration reform.

“If we have an inspirational kind of a leader in this country, a president of the United States building coalitions, getting things done, it will make a major difference in ending the war, education, health and these other issues, and I think there is that quantum difference and that’s why I’m supporting him,” Kennedy said.