Convention a family affair for Cushings of Maine

MINNEAPOLIS – For Andre Cushing, a town councilman from Hampden who is running for the state Legislature in District 39, politics is something that runs in the family.

This is Cushing’s third Republican convention and this time his 22-year-old daughter Grace is attending with him.

Like her father, Grace has worked on a number of Republican campaigns.

As a child, Andre Cushing can remember his mother working for many Republican candidates. “My mother was a party activist when I was young,” he said.

He remembers meeting U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith on the campaign trail. “She was a very small person in stature but commanded a lot of respect.”

“She was an earlier version of Sarah Palin. She did what she thought was right,” Cushing said, comparing Smith to the Alaska governor and Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential running mate.

Cushing, a real estate agent who also has a home construction business, is an alternate at this year’s convention so he will be watching the action from the spectator seats instead of the floor of the Xcel Center where the convention is being held.

He has spent many years behind the scenes. Cushing has been recruiting GOP candidates to run for the state Legislature for a number of years and when the District 39 seat opened up he decided to run this year. He is running against Democrat David Anderson Higgins of Hampden for the seat being vacated by Republican Rep. Brian Duprey.

In addition to Grace, Cushing and his wife, Gwen, also have two sons, Andre and Gerald.

Of his daughter Grace, he says, “She has caught the political bug.”

Cushing was originally a supporter of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Republican primary because he felt Romney had good executive experience and was also able to work with the Democrats in the Massachusetts Legislature.

Cushing admits to being a little disappointed when Romney was not selected to be McCain’s running mate. “I was frankly a little surprised at the initial announcement. … I was perplexed.”

But, Cushing said, the more he has learned about Palin, the more he thinks McCain has made a good choice. He said he is not bothered by some of the things that have surfaced about Palin and her family since the announcement.

“You’ll never find the perfect candidate. Everyone has adversities. We’ve all made poor judgments in our lives. The key is not what happens but how you deal with it.”

“If you’re going to go into public life … you’re going to have things said about you that can be hurtful. You have to be of the character that you can rise above it,” Cushing said.

Cushing said he is especially hoping to meet some Republican leaders while attending the convention. “I would love to meet Gov. Palin or see [former Speaker of the House] Newt Gingrich again.”

“The convention to me, the essence of it, is we come together from all walks of life, young people, old people, we come together with a common purpose … and we’re going to nominate someone who could be the next leader of the free world.”