PORTLAND, Maine — President Barack Obama and former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell are the latest high-profile Democrats set to take the stage to urge Mainers to elect U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud as Maine’s next governor.
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Michaud and Republican Gov. Paul LePage are locked in a neck-and-neck battle that recent polls indicate could be decided by a percentage point or two. Independent Eliot Cutler, who trails both candidates by wide margins in polls, on Wednesday acknowledged that he is a “long shot” and advised his supporters to “vote their conscience.”
Thursday’s rally, which comes five days before Election Day, is the most recent — and last scheduled — in a series of Michaud campaign events featuring national Democratic Party luminaries. Previously stumping for Michaud in Maine have been first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The steady flow of big-name Democrats into Portland and nearby communities seems designed to firm up support for Michaud in more progressive southern Maine, where voters are less familiar with the congressman who has represented Maine’s more northern 2nd U.S. House District for 12 years.
Obama’s visit is part of a campaign swing through Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in support of Democratic gubernatorial candidates. The president’s visit is sure to energize partisan Democrats, but to some degree it gives Republicans a rallying point as well.
Obama arrives in Maine with sinking national and state approval ratings. His handling of the ISIS threat in the Middle East and the Ebola outbreak in western Africa — the latter of which many Mainers are especially tuned into since the return of nurse Kaci Hickox of Fort Kent, who recently returned from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone — has drawn sharp criticism from across the political spectrum. Hickox, who has shown no symptoms of the deadly virus, is making national news for refusing to remain in a precautionary 21-day quarantine in her home.
Mitchell, on the other hand, is widely respected around the world and especially in Maine, a state he represented in the U.S. Senate from 1980 to 1995, including six years as Senate majority leader. Since then he has negotiated peace deals in Northern Ireland and the Middle East on behalf of Presidents Obama and Clinton. In January, Mitchell addressed a joint session of the Maine Legislature — and had his portrait hung at the State House — where his message was about bipartisan cooperation in spite of a world that is becoming more politically divided.
Mitchell endorsed Michaud in September, calling him “ideally suited to bring stability to the state budget.” The Michaud campaign on Thursday released a new web ad featuring Mitchell, as well as an automated telephone call in which Mitchell appeals to voters on Michaud’s behalf.
Mitchell is scheduled to introduce Michaud during Thursday’s rally in Portland.
LePage also is receiving support from high-level Republicans, including an automated telephone call featuring former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe and New Jersey governor and Republican Governors Association Chairman Chris Christie, who will stump with LePage on Monday for a fifth time in Maine.
A note to Portland-area commuters: Thursday evening’s rally at the Portland Expo will result in the closure of Park Avenue between Deering Avenue and St. John Street from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
