6 voices sound positions in 1st District race

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AUGUSTA – One by one they walked onstage Saturday evening to talk about why they should be elected to Congress.

It wasn’t another debate between the six candidates hoping to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for Maine’s 1st District election this fall, but it could end up being the largest live audience during the campaign for the five that don’t win the nomination. They each gave 15-minute speeches to an estimated crowd of more than 3,000 people, presenting their cases for why they should be the ones elected this fall.

Portland resident Ethan Strimling, the first to speak, focused on economic issues and the Iraq war as the main aspects of his campaign platform. He railed against the lack of an increase in the minimum wage and said the war has damaged America’s image in other countries.

“I am running for Congress because, like many of you, I am angry,” he said. “There is no military solution to this war, only a diplomatic solution. The war in Iraq is the greatest military blunder in our history and must end now.”

Strimling also criticized what he said was President Bush’s lack of action in fighting global warming and suggested he favored a windfall profits tax on the oil companies that would help fund wind energy development projects.

Strimling said he is the only candidate in the race who has pledged not to take money from political action committees and lobbyists.

Adam Cote, a veteran of wars in Bosnia and Iraq, spoke second. A native of Sanford who now lives in Sanford, Cote’s speech mostly dealt with the Iraq war and energy issues.

He was highly critical of Bush’s pursuit of the war in Iraq.

“To this day, there is no sign of a reasonable exit strategy,” Cote said.

He said he would work to make sure veterans health care programs are fully funded and that affordable health care is made available to all Americans.

Cote said that before he joined the military, he studied international law and energy regulation. He said he would encourage development of renewable energy sources in Maine to create “green” collar jobs and to help stimulate the economy.

“I will bring that expertise to Washington,” he said. “I will work to bring jobs and opportunity to this state. We just need new leadership to get us there.”

Michael Brennan said he was 18 in 1972 when, as a freshman at Florida State University, he started protesting the Vietnam War.

“We need to end the war now, and we need to bring troops home immediately,” he said. “I think it’s time for us as Democrats to sit in the street and not leave until we get fundamental change.”

Affordable health care, education and renewable energy were among the issues Brennan said he would address if elected. He said he favors repeal of Bush’s No Child Left Behind program, imposing a windfall profits tax on the big oil companies, and a national approach for providing all Americans with affordable health care. His son, he said, pays $200 a month for a health insurance plan that has a $10,000 deductible.

“I want to go to Washington and lead,” Brennan said. “It’s about working with you and everybody else in the 1st District to make sure we as a country go a long way.”

Mark Lawrence, the district attorney for York County, honed in on the policies of the administration in his speech.

“George Bush and Dick Cheney have done too much damage to America,” he said. “No one is above the law, not even the president.”

Paraphrasing Benjamin Franklin, Lawrence said that those who would trade personal liberties for greater security end up with neither.

Lawrence said that, as a prosecutor, he thinks Bush and Cheney should be impeached for misleading the American public about their stated justifications for the Iraq war. He used courtroom imagery to illustrate his feelings about the effects of high energy prices on Mainers.

“I want to get Big Oil on the witness stand, and I want to ask them how they can justify their profits when Mainers are struggling to pay for gas and pay for food,” he said. “I will fight every day for you to make sure Washington is accountable to you, beginning with the Bush-Cheney administration.”

Stephen Meister, like Cote, said his experience as a physician and serving in the U.S. Marine Corps helped form his opposition to the Iraq war. Calling the war a “disaster,” he said the troops are not getting the health care they need when they come home.

But he said he does not favor an immediate pullout of American troops. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wrongly predicted that Iraqis would quickly be able to run their country, Meister said.

“It didn’t happen when Rumsfeld said it, and I don’t think it’s going to happen now,” he said. “More people will die. We need to do this thoughtfully and carefully.”

Meister also said he favors a “carbon” tax to help fund development of renewable energy sources and that the housing market needs to be reformed to help the economy recover.

“We need the courage to succeed,” Meister said. “I’ve learned Maine is a true participatory democracy. Together, we have the courage to succeed.”

Last up was Chellie Pingree, the former president of Common Cause who pointed out she would be the first woman Democrat elected to higher office in Maine if 1st District voters picked her to represent them in Congress.

Pingree said she, too, protested the Vietnam War when she was younger and, after moving to Maine, learned about responsible business practices when she started her knitting business on Vinalhaven.

Pingree also said that America’s status in the world has been undermined by the policies of President Bush.

“Our democracy has been dismantled in front of our very eyes,” she said. “We have lost that respect.”

Pingree said she supports an immediate pullout of troops from Iraq, universal health care and development of renewable energy. Her experience in Washington, she said, will help her get things done quickly if she gets elected.

“We should always vote our conscience,” Pingree said.