I hope that many of the thousands of people I met over this last weekend in the Bangor area will have a chance to learn more about our campaign for U.S. Senate. I’m running as an independent for Maine.

On Saturday, I came up to Bangor to meet people and attend the caucuses and rallies. Also, my sister and her family live in Brewer, and she works at the University of Maine. Early Saturday, I met people at the UMaine Hillary Clinton event. I spoke with Sen. Clinton – and that’s my picture extending a handshake to her on the front page of the Feb. 11 Bangor Daily News.

Clinton seemed glad to see a supportive candidate for the U.S. Senate come to meet her. I told her that she should rely on her own voice. I think, by the way, that if she and the rest of Congress, including Rep. Tom Allen and Sen. Susan Collins, my opponents, had only listened to the people instead of the “money parties,” we’d be out of the war by now and Clinton might have won Maine’s vote. When will they learn?

At the UMaine event, I also spoke with Gov. John Baldacci and said that he should look for better sources of revenue for the Maine budget instead of cutting into vital services we need. I said that we should not ignore the biggest untouched river of revenue in Maine, which has never been taxed. We should, I told him, have a Maine “Tobin Tax,” (called an STT tax, securities transfer tax), which would be a 1 percent tax on the sale of all transactions of securities in the markets, including all stocks, bonds, mutual funds, derivatives, collateralized debt obligations, mortgage-backed securities, financial papers of any kind, transacted in the state of Maine.

This idea was started by Jim Wright, speaker of the House in the 1980s, but was never followed through. If we did this, we could raise $7.5 trillion on derivatives alone. We could solve all the economic woes faced by Mainers and provide incentives for important programs for our economic recovery. I have outlined my economic recovery plan on my Web site www.dobsonforsenate.com.

Later Saturday, outside the Bangor Auditorium, I spoke to 8,000 people waiting in the mile-long line at the Barack Obama event. It was a wonderful mass meet-and-greet. I only wish I could have told each of those patient people waiting that they could get into the event, but the media reported that 2,000 to 3,000 were turned away. Still, I was glad to walk along the line and meet so many energized Mainers.

On Sunday, our campaign traveled to Brewer and Hudson, where I had the chance to meet residents from the towns of Alton, LaGrange, Hudson, Old Town, Bradford and Brewer. Nearly all who attended signed the petitions to get me on the ballot. We need 4,000 signatures and are doing well. People respond especially these days to the idea of getting an independent on the ballot. Maine is quite independent, I can attest to that, especially these days.

As one man said, “I am a firm believer in an active three-party system.” With enlightened residents who think we should have a spirited U.S. Senate race, with all ideas and proposals up for debate and on the table, I think we are in good shape in Maine if we can make it a true race for the best ideas, not the most money.

Thanks to all those I met, and I hope you’ll contact our campaign. You can learn much more about me at the Web site, call 216-2303 or e-mail contact@dobsonforsenate.com. We’d love your help and involvement.

Laurie Dobson of Kennebunkport is an independent candidate for the U.S. Senate.