PORTLAND, Maine — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made one last appeal to Maine voters to send incumbent Republican Gov. Paul LePage back to the Blaine House when the polls open on Tuesday.
For Christie, chairman of the Republican Governors Association and rumored 2016 presidential candidate, it was the fifth and final visit to Maine. He told a crowd of about 150 Republican voters at the Portland Elks Lodge that he had visited 19 states in the past five days in an attempt to keep the GOP majority in governor’s mansions across the country.
But, he said, there was no place he’d rather be on the eve of Election Day than in Maine.
“We’re going to win a lot of races tomorrow night — a lot of races — but if I could only win one, I want to win this one for my friend Paul LePage,” he said.
With only hours to go until the polls open, LePage is locked in a dead heat with the Democratic candidate, U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud. An independent candidate, Eliot Cutler, ran a spirited campaign throughout the summer, but released his supporters last week in recognition of his slim chance at victory.
As he has said on his previous visits to Maine, Christie noted that LePage has a penchant for controversial remarks — a fact Democrats have seized on in this tight, contentious election — but said it should not overshadow his accomplishments in office.
“Every word that comes out of his mouth is the truth as he sees it, feels it and believes it,” Christie said. “Sometimes that makes some folks uncomfortable. That’s OK. We need a little more discomfort in politics.”
Seemingly on cue, LePage was ready for one of those comments likely to draw some controversy. He said he needed all his supporters to call five people, and remind them to get to the polls on Tuesday. He said that after the polls close, he needs one more volunteer to make one more phone call.
“I want to put Bill Nemitz on suicide watch,” he said, to laughs and applause from the audience. “We’ve got to make sure in the next 24 hours that he doesn’t go anywhere near the Bucksport bridge.”
Nemitz is a columnist for the Portland Press Herald who regularly criticizes the governor in his columns. LePage has had a prickly relationship with that newspaper, as well as the others in the state. The bridge he referenced was likely the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, a landmark span that has been the site of several suicides since it opened in 2006. The bridge crosses the Penobscot River between Verona Island and Prospect, but is regularly misidentified as being in Bucksport.
In a Tweet responding to the comment, Nemitz said, “Hey Big Guy @lepage2014… Suicide watch? As if! Don’t flatter yourself.”
LePage touted endorsements from several respected Republican stars, including former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe and incumbent U.S. Sen. Susan Collins; Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a favorite of the party’s libertarian wing, and former President George H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush.
“I woke up the other morning and my wife said, ‘You’ve gotta look at this ad on TV,’ and it was Barbara Bush,” LePage said. He said he was awestruck when he heard the former first lady describe him as “a little bit like me.”
With about 200 attendees, the rally was smaller than those been held for Michaud, who has benefited in recent weeks from visits by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama, who addressed crowds of thousands in an effort to energize Democratic voters.
But what the crowd on hand Monday in Portland lacked in size, it made up for in verve. LePage’s supporters regularly erupted into cheers of “Four more years!” and clapped enthusiastically as Christie outlined LePage’s record of tax and welfare cuts, support for gun owners’ rights and successful repayment of millions of dollars of debt to Maine’s hospitals.
Steven Scharf, a GOP volunteer from Portland, said he thought the event with Christie was “fabulous.”
“I certainly feel energized,” he said. “I think [LePage] has done an excellent job. I’ve never cared what he said, it’s what he’s done that’s important.”
Shawn Murphy, an Auburn resident and 27-year-old veteran of the war in Iraq, said he was getting involved in political activism for the first time, but that LePage had his vote thanks to his fierce protection of gun owner’s privacy rights.
“I think he’s a much better choice than the other guys,” Murphy said. He also said that he was turned off of Michaud because of the company he keeps: “Hillary Clinton helping the other guy, that’s not a good sign,” he said.
LePage will vote early Tuesday morning in Augusta before heading to shake hands and greet voters at polling places throughout the state (a campaign spokesman said the itinerary was still being finalized). LePage will end the evening at the Franco-American Center in his hometown of Lewiston, where he will watch the results flow in.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
