AUGUSTA – Maine Republicans will gather at the Augusta Civic Center this weekend for the party’s 2008 state convention.

More than 2,400 delegates and alternates are expected to attend the two-day affair, which gets under way this morning and wraps up Saturday evening.

One-time presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will deliver the keynote address at Friday night’s Presidential Banquet. Conservative political pundit Cal Thomas will address the convention Saturday afternoon.

Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who is running for re-election to a third six-year term, also are scheduled to speak to the delegates on Saturday.

Congressional candidates John Frary from Maine’s 2nd District and Dean Scontras and Ruth Summers – who will appear on behalf of her husband, Charles Summers, who is serving with the Navy in Iraq and running against Scontras in the June 10 primary to represent the party in the 1st District race – will address the convention on Friday afternoon.

“We are very excited about this convention,” said Julie Ann O’Brien, executive director of the Maine Republican Party. “We have crowds in numbers that we haven’t seen at many conventions. … Logistically, it’s quite a job to fit in so many and get them situated. We’re very excited to see a lot of new people coming this year, as well as some Republican activists from the past.”

O’Brien said that under party rules, if every county sent its maximum number of allotted delegates and alternates to the convention, it would bring attendance to 3,000. She said having more than 2,400 registered so far was a remarkable turnout.

In the party’s only contested primary race for national office, Scontras, an Eliot businessman, and Summers will square off in the primary to represent the party against whomever the Democrats elect to replace Rep. Tom Allen, who is stepping down after five terms to challenge Collins for the junior senator’s seat. Six candidates are running on the Democratic side.

Summers, a former state senator from Scarborough, is serving as a lieutenant commander in Iraq. His wife has been acting as his surrogate on the campaign trail as he is prohibited by naval regulations from campaigning while on active duty.

Frary, a retired college professor from Farmington, is unopposed in his race to become the party’s nominee to challenge Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud in the general election in November.

Along with hearing from their state and national candidates, delegates attending the convention also will elect their national committeeman and national committeewoman, adopt party rules, the party platform and select delegates to the Republican National Convention, which will be held Sept. 1-4 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. Maine will send 18 delegates and 18 alternates to the national convention. While there they will join with approximately 2,800 other delegates and select the party’s presidential and vice presidential standard-bearers for the general election on Nov. 4.

The delegates to this weekend’s GOP state convention also will participate in their individual county caucuses, as well as caucuses for the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts.

The party platform:

. Calls for a constitutional amendment that will ensure that state spending never grows faster than per capita income.

. Seeks the reform of regulations that have a negative impact on private enterprise.

. Aims to ensure that regulations recognize the value of the state’s outdoor heritage and promote responsible stewardship of the environment.

. Seeks to conform the state tax code to the federal code.

. Promotes competition and lower costs in the health care system.

. Supports a statewide economic environment to help businesses grow and stay in the state.

. Supports mandatory minimum prison sentences.

. Supports governmental oversight to achieve more efficient state government.

. Says that English should be the state’s official language.

. Supports legislation that would require a photo identification to be eligible to vote in Maine.

“It’s a very, very full agenda and we feel it will be a great mix of a lot of important discussions, very important decisions and opportunities for a lot of fun,” O’Brien said.

wgriffin@bangordailynews.net

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