This one may not go down in the history of strange political bedfellows, but the connection between Democratic candidate Tom Connolly and northern Maine populists is unusual even in Maine’s very unusual gubernatorial election.

Mr. Connolly is an old-style Democrat who believes government can be a positive force in people’s lives. Yet he is reaching out to a group of Mainers who see government as largely a nuisance that must be endured. The reason has a lot to do with the way he has styled his campaign platform.

The platform rests on the constitutional idea that the right to be left alone is the most sacred of all rights. In practice, he says, this means that during a forestry debate, the rights of small landowners are protected first, not as an afterthought. It means “all citizens are entitled to privacy. Matters of sex and religion should both be off limits and free from state interference.”

But the appeal is larger than privacy rights. Mr. Connolly is both a defender of gun rights and an opponent of international treaties such as the currently debated Multilateral Agreement on Investment, which opponents say erodes U.S. sovereignty. He resonates on blue-collar issues such as equal legal representation at workers’ comp hearings and an increase in the minimum wage, both of which Gov. Angus Kng opposes. His economic warning is straightforward: Many Maine people are working harder and harder just to stay even, if that.

Certainly, not all of his issues will attract the voters that helped make Ross Perot a legitimate candidate, but on one subject at least they ought to admire him. Last winter, when better-known Democrats decided Gov. King was too tough to defeat, Mr. Connolly jumped in. He jumped in even though he was a novice, even tough he had no money or any real chance of getting money. He even got better as a candidate after losing some party heavyweights. He’s got grit.

Whether he has time to get his message out to enough voters, however, is an open question. The race was conceded by many to the incumbent before it began last spring. But back then, no one knew which political bedfellow would be found with whom.