HOLDEN, Maine — Between campaign events earlier this month, Bruce Poliquin, the Republican candidate for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, and his campaign manager, Matthew Hutson, stopped at Pat’s Pizza here for lunch.
The restaurant was nearly empty, but Poliquin nevertheless jumped up to introduce himself to everyone he saw.
“My name is Bruce Poliquin and I’m running for Congress,” he told the waitress, who smiled in return.
Poliquin’s opponent, Democratic nominee Sen. Emily Cain of Orono, also campaigned over lunch recently, at the Bar Harbor/MDI Rotary Club. During her remarks, Cain made light of the political attacks she has faced during this heated campaign.
“First of all, I’m not responsible for, or connected to, terrorism,” she joked to the group of about 50 people, many of whom laughed.
Cain was referring to a recent TV advertisement from the National Republican Congressional Committee. The ad shows what appear to be ISIS soldiers marching while a voiceover says Cain’s stance on energy would make the United States more dependent on Middle Eastern oil.
These lunchtime settings for the candidates vying to represent Maine’s 2nd U.S. House District in Congress are indicative of their different campaign styles leading up to Election Day.
Poliquin has run an aggressive campaign, introducing himself to as many residents in the broad district as time has allowed. He has been buoyed by attack ads from outside groups such as the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Cain, an employee of University of Maine, has fought back with attack ads of her own, but has regularly been put on the defensive — whether Poliquin’s in the room with her or not.
“They’re both running professional campaigns in a hotly contested seat,” said UMaine political science professor Mark Brewer.
Political observers say these campaigns are presenting voters in Maine’s vast, largely rural district with a more stark political choice than any in recent history, especially when the third candidate, conservative independent Blaine Richardson, is also considered.
“The 2nd Congressional District generally tends to be a moderate or centrist district,” Brewer said. “None of the three candidates in this particular election cycle fit that description terribly well.”
Brewer said Cain falls to the left of U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud — a Democrat who is giving up the seat after six terms to run for governor — while Richardson, a former Republican, appeals to libertarian voters and Poliquin represents a very conservative faction in his party, unlike popular Republicans such as Sen. Susan Collins.
Compared with her opponents, Cain “definitely has a stronger background of bipartisan-type actions,” Brewer said, a style that historically has appealed to voters in this district. “She hasn’t done that in all cases, but she has in many instances.”
But so far, the race is hard to handicap. Two recent public polls each predicted a different outcome. National political analysts have called the campaign a tossup.
Polling data on this district, although in small samples, do appear to show that likely voters are more familiar with Poliquin. A poll by Pan Atlantic SMS from September showed that 43.1 percent of those questioned were unfamiliar with Poliquin, while 53.8 percent were unfamiliar with Cain.
Some voters in the 2nd District, including Gloria Bagley, a retiree who lives in Centerville in Washington County, reflect that sentiment.
“He’s in front of you it seems to be,” Bagley said of Poliquin. “Not so much with her.”
Although Poliquin’s style may be garnering better name recognition, it gets mixed reviews.
For example: Sue Clay, a retiree from Columbia Falls, said that Cain comes across as “more sincere.” Alice Duston of Cherryfield said Poliquin is “too big for his britches.”
But Beverly Gray of Bangor, who was out walking her dog while Poliquin was canvassing in the city recently, said she liked his message of “more jobs, less debt,” which appears on his lawn signs.
Poliquin canvassed Bangor that morning alongside campaign adviser Brent Littlefield, who also is a senior campaign adviser to Gov. Paul LePage. It was one of the first cooler, gray days of fall and there weren’t many people about. But Poliquin, eager to make the most of his time, shook hands with nearly every person he saw.
“I’m a businessperson, not a politician,” he would say, in phrasing reminiscent to LePage’s first Blaine House run in 2010, “and I’m trying to better the business climate here in Maine.”
Cain has been busy, too, speaking at Rotaries and events hosted by her supporters. As Poliquin knocks on doors, she tries to knock down the picture he’s painting of her — that she’s an extreme liberal from out-of-state.
She is working to portray herself as the more moderate choice who has worked with Republicans to pass difficult budgets in Augusta.
At the Rotary lunch, Cain paraphrased independent U.S. Sen. Angus King, who had endorsed her two weeks before.
“We don’t always agree, but I know I can count on you to work with me,” she said he told her.
Though the message resonated with Rotarians in Bar Harbor, it remains to be seen whether it will with voters at large.
“If you think the 2nd District hasn’t changed much, and I don’t think it’s fundamentally changed,” Brewer said, “I guess Cain is the best fit. That doesn’t mean she’s going to win.”
