Ask Kevin Raye why his chances for winning Maine’s 2nd Congressional District might be better now than when he opposed Democratic incumbent Mike Michaud 10 years ago and the state Senate president will point to the government he helps guide.
Besides the weight that comes with having a Republican, Paul LePage, in the governor’s office, Republicans dominate among the state senators and representatives who live within the 2nd District. Fifteen of the 19 state senators and two-thirds of the 75 state representatives within the district are members of the GOP, Raye noted.
“That tells me that the district has changed since 2002, when Michaud was first elected,” Raye said Thursday.
“The other dynamic that’s different this time is that previously when I ran, Mike was the Senate president just coming off of 22 years there, and I had never been elected to anything,” Raye added, “so there were people who were describing me as inexperienced. I certainly didn’t yet have the legislative experience to demonstrate leadership like I have now.”
Raye won his party’s primary on Tuesday by defeating challenger Blaine Richardson 18,282 votes to 12,297 votes, or 59.8 percent to 40.2 percent, according to unofficial tallies compiled by the Bangor Daily News.
When Michaud and Raye faced each other in 2002, Michaud, then Maine Senate president pro tempore, got 52.6 percent of the vote to 47.4 percent for Raye.
Both candidates already have sparred this time around about the money they had raised before Tuesday’s primary.
Michaud campaign manager Greg Olson doesn’t see much difference in the district now. Nor does he believe that the district, the largest east of the Mississippi River, skews as much to the right as Raye believes.
“Maine voters are not partisans. It can be shown over the years that they split tickets and they vote for the person, not the party,” Olson said Thursday.
Maine voting patterns can be stubbornly individualistic, Olson said. In 2008, despite Barack Obama’s landslide victory for president, Maine voters still re-elected Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins by a healthy margin.
Democrats finished much more strongly in-state than the Republicans in 2006, but U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, for whom Raye was once chief of staff, won her race. And Michaud easily defeated his GOP opponents in 2006, 2008 and 2010, Olson noted.
Raye “is welcome to really wear that partisan label,” Olson said. “I don’t believe that will be to his advantage.”
And Mainers might not be too easily disposed to forget how free trade agreements, which President George W. Bush supported and Michaud opposed, have hurt Maine’s economy, Olson said.
“In 2002 he [Raye] was a strong supporter of Bush-Cheney and I think the Bush-Cheney record speaks for itself,” Olson said. “We have a couple of wars overseas, growing deficits and significant economic problems that date back to that time.”
“Maine is fortunate to have a fierce opponent to the free trade agenda in Mike Michaud,” Olson said.
Raye believes that Michaud is not nearly as strong a candidate as he once might have been. After capturing more than 70 percent of the vote and defeating Scott D’Amboise in 2006, Michaud’s winning percentages steadily have declined, Raye said.
Raye and Olson said both candidates plan to run on their records. Raye, who announced his campaign early last month, likely will try to persuade voters to concentrate on Michaud’s support for President Obama’s agenda, while Michaud will tout his work to bolster Maine’s economy.
“The defining issues will be the fiscal issues, and the issues we have taken on at the state level are conservative issues in terms of being concerned about debt and profligate spending,” Raye said.
Olson indicated that Michaud probably will be more concerned with his congressional responsibilities and save the bulk of his electioneering until after Labor Day, while Raye said he has a few campaign stops planned over the next several days.
The National Republican Congressional Committee boosted the Raye campaign Thursday when it announced Raye as a “Contender” candidate, one of those the national party feels has a strong chance of winning in November.
If the headline is correct, then Blaine Richardson should have come out the winner in this primary. Kevin is no “Right” person–Blaine did very well for having only a short time to campaign and get his name out there.
Redder? Is that why the 2nd district CRUSHED the right wing voter suppression law last fall? Mainers are very independent. Raye has been a LePage toadie and water boy in the legislature, and that stink will follow him all the way to November when he is decidedly defeated at the polls.
We are lucky to have Mike Michaud representing us in the 2nd district. He votes according to the issues..ie. Obama’s health care bill. He held out because rural hospitals were not being funded (his district)..Mike votes conservatively , punched a time clock for 20 years, understands the working man.
Kevin Raye is like our governor, he votes for the corporations over people every time.He is dreaming if he thinks he could win in upper state ME.
If Maine moves to the right, doesn’t that put us in New Brunswick?
This is probably the funniest thing I have read in the BDN in a long time, thank you.
Ayuh, … eh?
Given Paulie and Company’s recent statement’s and draft policies, you are far closer to the truth than you realize.
Funny!
Since 2002, Michaud hasn’t faced anyone that brings as much to the table as Kevin Raye does now. I can’t wait to send Michaud back home, to a place where he can’t send taxpayers the bill for his car.
I don’t care for tea flavored mustard on my table. The voters of the 2nd District are not a pile of uninformed hayseeds.
Don’t forget, Kevin Raye, the two Charlies, Charlie Summers & his mate GOP ” The Rudder” Charlie Webster. They clearly tried to sail a nationally-manufactured voter-suppression boat to our docks … deplorable, deliberate, disgraceful, and disturbing .
If a politician is not popular enough to win honestly, you can sure bet they will work on voter suppression. It’s a republican thing. How many people can you bet on voting against their interests year in and year out?
Please show us what Kevin brings to the table verses Mike. You might embarrass yourself trying to do it.
Small Business Rating: Raye 100% – Michaud – 0%
Balanced Budget Amendment: Raye Support – Michaud – Voted against
Staff Budget: Raye Cut 20% off his staff budget – Michaud Voted against a 5% cut
Legislative Accomplishments:
Raye LD 1 Reg Reform, New Market Tax Credit Program, Rural Maine School Funding Reform
Michaud: 2 Bills passed through Congress in 10 YEARS! (and one of those bills was a “study”)
The Record is CLEAR.
His record is indeed clear! Small business rating is a joke. Balanced budget amendment cuts funding for small business. Staff budget? wow, what a break through for mankind! Legislative accomplishments. Reg reform. Penquin issued, rubber stamped. New Market tax credit reform was put in place by the Clinton administration in 1993. Was due to expire dec 31, 2011. Each State had the option to renew the program. School funding reform has helped destroy small town Maine school systems. Eight years of legislative work in a paragraph. Where are the veterans accomplishments?
Kevin Raye brings a lot of baggage too. Conflict of interest in pushing wind farms. Did you know that there are a lot of conservatives in upper state ME who have been hurt by wind farms. Pretty loud voices .
Typical Democrat – still blaming Bush for all of the problems that he’s helped create. I’d put this all on Michaud, but we all know he’s too irrelevant to make a difference anyway. We need someone in DC who will be a leader. Kevin Raye will stand up for us!
Ask a Maine veteran.
They like Mike.
You would be surprised at just how relevant Michaud is. You won’t find out unless you go to his website.
http://michaud.house.gov/
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If the 2nd District is growing more conservative, how come Blaine Richardson didn’t give Raye a better contest? Richardson is well to the right of Kevin Raye.
Or you could say that Raye is just a tad to the left of Blaine Richardson.
Those who suppress votes also say the US is conservative/ just love love love trickle down economics. Well, it has been several decades that WE have worshipped at the knee of old Milt and nothing has trickled down to average people.
Ralph, we noticed.
The district may be moving to the right because the democrats are numb, but unless Raye can distance himself from the governor and the Bush hololcaust deniers, he has no real chance
Do you seriously think Raye could step away from his group?
I am no fan of Mike Michaud. But if Kevin Raye actually thinks that being the leader of the tea party Senate we just saw will get him enough votes to unseat Michaud he is inhaling way too much mustard dust. He has bowed down to Paul Richard LePage rather then show true leadership. Maine needs people in office that can think for themselves and not take their orders from some un-elected special interest group.
I am not sure if you realize just how true that is, but you hit the nail square on the head. He has a basket full of prepackaged campaign rhetoric fresh from the bowels of the D.C. right wingers, but his record, what there is of it, should put his picture over the fireplace of Grover Norquist. Veterans and working people beware.
Kevin Raye doesn’t know that ME republicans are more independent than the national average. He is hung with LePage wrapped around his neck. That is why they had to seriously mess with the republican primary to keep Ron Paul from winning. LOL
You are a liar, and you don’t know him personally. Nice try.
I neither need nor want to know him personally. I have listened to him speak on more than one occasion and more than one subject with which I am personally very familiar. I repeat, he is a liar.
Raye is all about economic development, just look where he’s from, Eastport, America, home of Tim Sample’s “Vacant Building Festival”.
Have you been to Eastport lately? There is more going on there than anywhere else in Washington County. Well, except for Marden’s in Calais on a Saturday morning, that place is like the Canadian Embassy.
Kevin has been a fantastic leader for us in the Senate. I am confident the people of Maine can see through this ignorant haze like is posted here and see how positive an influence he has been for the State.
Your fantasizing again. Show us all your information.
I saw some of that positive during the wind farm dust up. He doesn’t return calls .
Sounds good. Just remember – stick with the mustard, because most of us don’t want anything to do with your politics. Don’t let yourself get fooled into believing that you have a chance in this election. Bank on the mustard.
Well the right seems to be serving the older citizens of Washington County just great. Allowing the insurance industry to jack their rates up, allowing needed nursing home beds to be moved, leaving unfunded mandates on small school districts yet cutting state funding. We have soooo much to be grateful for in the move to the right.
It is surprising that some rural Mainers are buying the lie that the LePage/Tea Toadies insurance “reform” helped them.
Rural areas lost big time with this scam while the southwest corner of the state made out great and got insurance premium decreases on the backs of the higher rate paying rural folks.
Republican way…give breaks for the wealthy on the backs of the least fortunate.
LePage thinks it is ok for the upper state ME elderly to go to Portland for health care. …move to cities. His boys used to say that a lot right here on the BDN comments.
Raye’s done ! His campaign manager literallly slit Raye’s throat when he said that Raye supported the Bush-Cheney economic programs, Add to that the fact that Raye supported the Bush expansion of NAFTA and gee,, is it a wonder why Raye hasn’t come anywhere near The County ? Michaud saw where Bush-Cheney was headed and stood up to them both and said outright ‘NO ! ‘, even when it wasn’t the most popular, or considered the smartest move to be making. So far that anyone’s seen up here, Raye’s done nothing but whine and cry everytime some kind of business or economic plan is proposed that requires both State and Business Communities to come together and INVEST in each other, Raye expects that the Business Community is going to to do all the lifting. Sorry folk’s but it is not gonna happen and even Raye knows that. We all saw where that wound up with Kestrel so ’nuff said there.
And to add insult to injury, no where does anyone hear Raye making any noises about LePage’s refusal to invest in the State thru the use of the R&B Bond’s. Again, does Raye and the rest of Maine’s GOP really think that any business is gonna come here if the State itself refuses to invest in it’s own future ? Right know the DECD folk’s are trying, very hard at last report, to make the Bombardier deal work in the Brunswick area and get their Railcar construction manufacturing and repair business going where Maine, thru the use of the old MMA track’s, that Maine owns, has both the available open trackage and the local laborforce, that is and has been well versed in this type of work .Up here in The County, Houlton’s Airport would love to see Bombardier’s aircraft folk’s come up for a good, and serious look-see as far as facillities and runway’s go. But everytine that the DECD folk’s get close what happens ? Raye and the State GOP right-winger’s come out and start crying ‘ But we don’t have the money to get the infrastructure repaired ” or some such drivel. Please, gag me with a snowshovel in manure pile ! That’s what the R&D Bond’s, and in Washington, the Highway and Infrastructure Funding Bill, can and will solve. But at every turn the GOP’s crazies come out and expect the Business Community to solve the State’s problem’s for them. And their pointman here in Maine is Raye in the State Senate and Paulie and Company in Blaine House.
It’s about time that the Business Community start looking with a whole lot more objectivity and practicality in just what and who wants to both make their business’s work for everyone’s benefit and in how it can be done without all of the ‘Chicken Little’ hysteria that’s being driven. And one only need to look to see that it’s being driven by those same wonderful folk’s who gave us AIG, Merrill-Lynch, Countrywide and the Real Estate market crash. Are we all ready for another round of Republican Bingo with a bunch of rigged card’s ? I for one am not. And November is closing in ………………….
olson is michaud campaign manager, not raye’s. that’s why he said what he said and the uneducated voters like yourself take it hook line and sinker and believe raye wants to be like bush.
no one ever went broke underestimating the intellegence of the american voter.
Education, Sir, requires both an open mind and the objectivity, as an example, to see the the guy who is trying to sell you a 737 airliner and instead has a DC-3 in front of you, to know when someone is trying to plow you under with moosepoop. Raye to this point is using a JD Frontend Loader to unload his ‘pile’ on Maine voter’s. Mike, well, he might not have a Loader but at least you can see the shovel in his hand and know who’s using it. Raye’s Frontend Loader is somehow mysteriously missing the ‘title’. Gee, I wonder why ? Anyone wanna take a stab at ths one ? Step on up !
”
no one ever went broke underestimating the intellegence of the american voter.”
You just lost my respect.
Why? did he lose your respect.. It’s the truth as ugly as it is.. 1/3 of the voters don’t know who Joe Biden is.
typical Democrat supporter, blast away without looking at the facts… The R&D Bond veto was OVERRIDDEN in the Senate. Raye was among those Senators voting to override the Governor’s Veto. The veto was sustained in the House of Representatives. So Raye did stand up for R&D in Maine. And instead of talking about AIG, Merrill-Lynch, Countrywide why don’t we discuss something a little closer to home, like the Millinocket Mills. Now without Raye’s New Market Tax Credit Program the mills would likely still be shutdown today. In fact Raye just got a bill through to help the Mills expand…. What has Michaud done to keep jobs in Millinocket??? He can’t even decide if he is fully against the National Park. I personally can’t wait till November. It is time we compare and contrast the records, and I think Raye will come out just fine.
You should run for office. If not, why not?
Mike, how long have you borrowed on one credit card to make the monthly payments on the other… Knowing full well it won’t work forever.
The cycle has to stop.
Raye voted for the bonds anyway so stop spinning your tales.
Oh please, if they didn’t fling right in 2010, they’re not going to move now. Michaud won by a 10% margin last time, he’s not going anywhere.
Michaud is beloved, Raye wouldn’t understand.
Really a stupid move for Raye moving more to the right. Washington County needs all the help it can get from the Federal Government. Cutting what is left of the safety net in Washington County and Maine will only hurt Mainers. Cant reduce taxes in Washington County since most of the voters are on welfare and food stamps. Any workers pay next to nothing in taxes since they make next to nothing anyway, with their slave wages.
So you are saying you prefer welfare money in your county, then to make it business friendly. in hope to bring in jobs
HAHAHAHA ! Washington County business friendly? No corporation will ever move to Washington County. Get real. Its location is at the end of Maine and Maine is at the end of the USA. Its resources have been plundered for 350 years. Most of the young people have moved away or are in jail. Unless they discover oil or natural gas in Machias, welfare and food stamps will be the only thing keeping Mainers alive here.
Mike Michaud. I don’t trust people who don’t date or have a social life… What exactly are his hobbies??? When you are a public figure/politican I would like to know who you hang around with before I give you my vote.. What if he is chummy with the union mobsters. I would like to know that.
Wow.
Congressman Michaud is a wonderful person ..I do know some of his friends and their are also great hard working Christians and Catholics, just everyday Mainers like you and me ! Sorry David, there’s no Mobsters chumming around with Mike! ….Mike works so hard for the people of Maine and our U.S. Veterans that he has no time left to hang around with anyone!!
Here is a sampling of the current track record of the Republican State Legislators in Washington County. Keep in mind that the entire delegation – 5 Representatives and 1 Senator (Senate President Kevin Raye) – are Republicans who have staunchly supported Gov. LePage’s ideological agenda.
1. Atlantic Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Calais is closing, resulting in the loss of 100 +/- jobs and a void in an essential service for those who require such care. Maine DHHS Commisioner, Mary (Missy) Mayhew, didn’t bother to attend the hearing to request that DHHS rescind the Certificate of Need granted to First Atlantic Healthcare to move those beds to facilities outside Washington County. As expected, Mayhew denied the request, citing First Atlantic’s declining census and loss of revenue. Of course, both of these were the result of self-fulfilling prophecies by First Atlantic the second that DHHS secretly approved the initial Certificate of Need application for the Ellsworth and Bucksport facilities. SO MUCH FOR THE “POSITIVE” INFLUENCE OF LEPAGE’S GOP LEGISLATIVE MINIONS FROM WASHINGTON COUNTY.
2. Kevin Raye crafted a school funding law, signed with great fanfare in Eastport by LePage, that supposedly would ease the financial burden on rural communities, particularly those that have high state property valuations that are disproportionate to their commercial base. Right! Most of these communities have lost even more money, several of them hundreds of thousands of dollars. SO MUCH FOR THE “POSITIVE” INFLUENCE OF LEPAGE’S GOP LEGISLATIVE MINIONS FROM WASHINGTON COUNTY.
3. For decades Maine State Governmement has violated its own law to fund 55% of the cost of education. With the exception of the very wealthy, who can manipulate the tax code to their advantage, imagine what the State would do to the less privileged if they ignored the tax laws. After nearly two years in control the GOP hasn’t fulfilled the State’s obligation to pay its mandated share of the cost of education any more that its predecessors. I believe that GOP Rep. Joyce Maker, Calais, has said that she will introduce such legislation NEXT YEAR. Right! SO MUCH FOR THE “POSITIVE” INFLUENCE OF LEPAGE’S GOP LEGISLATIVE MINIONS FROM WASHINGTON COUNTY.
4. LePage, Kevin Raye, and their fellow Republican Legislators have touted that they passed the largest tax cut in Maine’s history. Right! The very wealthy got a windfall, while my socio-economic middle-class family saved perhaps $100.00-$200.00 maximum in State income taxes. Concurrently, because of the resultant reduction in State revenue and other GOP legislation, municipalities are receiving less State funding to support basic needs and services, causing my property taxes to rise multiple times the so-called reduction of my tax burden via the State’s income tax revision. Poop runs downhhill. SO MUCH FOR THE “POSITIVE” INFLUENCE OF LEPAGE’S GOP LEGISLATIVE MINIONS FROM WASHINGTON COUNTY.
5. GOP Rep. David Burns, Whiting (who is now his party’s nominee for State Senate District 29) proposed legislation that would have eliminated the restriction of hours that students may work while school is in session and instituted a six month “training wage” for workers up to the age of 20, among other provisions.The purported intent was to create more employment opportunities for young people. Right! Let’s make Maine more business-friendly by fostering a system of slave-labor while reducing the number of job-seekers who might be hired at minimum wage. Brilliant! SO MUCH FOR THE “POSITIVE” INFLUENCE OF LEPAGE’S GOP LEGISLATIVE MINIONS FROM WASHINGTON COUNTY.
6. Some posters have attempted to rationalize that GOP Legislators have shown independence in the latter stages of the Legislative term by overriding a small handful of LePage’s many vetoes. Baloney! They haven’t changed their proverbial spots, they are trying to save their political skins.
There is much more on the Republican record to repudiate that they have done anything substantial to benefit middle and lower socio-economic citizens.
So, State Senator Raye, I wish you well in the mustard business, but it is time for the voters to send you and your Republican cohort back to being private citizens. Your presumed power and influence have been a sham.
Don’t forget the sale of the Boat School in Eastport. A Win, Win ,Win deal. What a joke. The win was for a few of the Good Old Boys and a Lose, Lose ,Lose to the Tax payers of Eastport.