Recent Maine caucuses off the mark

The excitement being generated by today’s visits of Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton to Orono and Sen. Barack Obama to Bangor has rarely been matched in recent local political history. Clinton and Obama are here because this year every delegate to the national convention is critical. It hasn’t always been that way.

Maybe it is the coastline’s safe harbors or the population’s reputation for helping those in need, but in recent years the Maine caucuses have seemed to be a place where teetering candidates came to recharge campaigns that were not catching on elsewhere. In most presidential election years since 1980, the winner in Maine did not end up being the nominee.

Because a caucus differs from the primaries held in many other states, a premium is placed on the organization and dedication of paid staff and volunteers. The amount of money spent, although important, may not define the winner. The team that gets the most foot soldiers to the caucus likely comes away with the marbles.

For example, Bill Clinton, governor of Arkansas, came to Bangor in November 1991 and met with 30 members of the Bangor Democratic City Committee in an effort to sign up volunteers. It is noteworthy that he thought Maine important enough to come to Lewiston just before the February 1992 caucus and have dinner with the Androscoggin County Committee.

That year Clinton was battling Sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts and Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska for the Democratic nomination. Kerrey was able to say he’d been to Maine by making a very brief stop at a manufacturing plant in Westbrook as he was whisked in and out of the Portland jetport. Apparently he didn’t expect a win in Maine to give the successful candidate a boost. He was quoted as saying, “I don’t expect to win the Maine caucuses.” Next stop South Dakota.

Tsongas came to Maine after winning the New Hampshire primary and drew a standing room crowd of 500 to Momma Baldacci’s Restaurant in Bangor for a reception. It was a one-shot event as he was soon on his way elsewhere in an attempt to prove that he was not just a regional candidate.

The same day that Tsongas was at Momma Baldacci’s former California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. spoke to a much smaller crowd of supporters at John Bapst Memorial High School. “Jerry” Brown spent quite a bit of time crisscrossing the state, and his message connected with enough caucus participants to overcome the organization of others.

Brown ended up winning Maine by 1 percent with Tsongas finishing second and Clinton, the eventual nominee and two-term president, finishing third.

Republican Steve Forbes, proponent of the flat income tax, had breakfast at Nicky’s Drive-In on Union Street in Bangor one March morning in 1996. He drew a large, friendly crowd before moving on to tour the Eastern Fine Paper mill in Brewer. He was hoping for a boost before the New York primary.

The same day Forbes was in Bangor another Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, limped in with his campaign. The BDN story of the day reported that Lugar “was accompanied only by a couple of twenty-something aides and one network television stringer.” There were no Secret Service agents. On that trip Lugar didn’t get farther than a Telford Aviation hangar at the Bangor airport. He was soon out of the race. Forbes soon followed. Bob Dole ended up winning in Maine and was the eventual nominee. He lost to Clinton.

This year’s tight Democratic race has reminded people most of 1980. President Jimmy Carter was running for a second term. He was not particularly popular, even in his own party. Oil prices were high. Embassy personnel and others were still captive in Iran, and Ronald Reagan, a Republican from California, was getting a lot of attention. Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Jerry Brown were running against Carter for the Democratic nomination.

Carl Pease, now town manager of Windsor, was a student at the University of Maine when Kennedy visited Orono that year. The senator was going to have a televised press conference and his campaign wanted to borrow backdrop from the drama department. The department refused the request but said they would loan the item to Pease because they “knew” him.

Pease recalls that the Orono caucus was to be held at the community center. It had to be moved to the local high school gymnasium at the last minute because authorities were afraid that the large crowd would be more than the floor in the old building could bear. Interestingly, the candidates split the crowd close to evenly.

Colby College professor of government Anthony Corrado was the Aroostook County co-coordinator for Carter that year. The president needed to do well in the 2nd district to beat back the Kennedy organization which was strong in the state’s urban centers. Corrado spent six weeks on the road preparing for the caucus. First lady Rosalynn Carter flew into Limestone to attend meetings and greet the faithful.

Corrado remembers the phone banks set up in Madawaska to be used to boost caucus attendance. In true St. John Valley fashion, one group was calling in English and one in French.

Kennedy would ultimately win in Maine, but Carter was the nominee and lost to Reagan.