| North Country Carries McGowan to Victory
Patrick McGowan was victorious in yesterday's Democratic primary for governor due to his stronger margin wins in the northern part of the state. The seven most northern and eastern counties gave him just enough votes to negate fairly even splits of about a quarter of the vote elsewhere in the state except in Cumberland and York counties where his opponents ran stronger. But capturing 15% to 25% of the vote in the southern tier of Maine kept his campaign toward the nomination on track.
In the closing days of the campaign, McGowan abandoned the "service club and chicken dinner" and toured the state stumping to many small groups in smaller communities from the back of a pickup truck. His staff believes that direct contact moved him forward little by little, especially in many rural areas where no candidate paid much attention.
It was a late night in all four candidate camps with only enough later north country reports giving McGowan a definitive edge at around midnight after early alternating leads by Steve Rowe and Rosa Scarcelli followed by Libby Mitchell. With 99.9 % of precincts reporting McGowan won with 29% of the vote. Rowe and Scarcelli were each near 24% of the over 106,000 votes cast and were trailed by Mitchell at around 22%.
McGowan spoke to supporters and opposing party players early in the morning at a Democratic unity breakfast; "I appreciate the confidence given me in particular regions of the state but I will not let geography define our general election effort. I plan to pay strong attention to important issues in northern Maine but I intend to be governor for the entire state. I'm humble enough to know that our win margin was slight and that each of my friends who also ran in this race had a pretty equal range of support. That is why I have asked each of them, and each has responded yes, to play a significant role in my administration at the cabinet level. We are going to move all of Maine forward together."
According to University political expert Rand Snider; "Patrick McGowan will need the support of his former opponents as this campaign heats up. Steve Abbot's more convincing win on the Republican side is a real factor." Voters seem less enthusiastic, Sarah Chase, getting off her overnight shift at LL Bean quipped; "I feel like I'm at the ice cream take out and the choices are vanilla or vanilla."
Libby Mitchell Narrowly Wins Democratic Nod
Elizabeth Mitchell became her party's first female nominee for governor after barely outpacing Steven Rowe by about 1,000 votes out of over 106,000 cast statewide. Mitchell and Rowe ran neck and neck all through last evening while McGowan and Scarcelli ran several points behind the two leaders.
Exit polls indicate that fairly equal levels of name recognition and familiarity with Libby Mitchell and Steve Rowe were significant factors. Still while name recognition was even with Rowe, her prospects seemed to be fading fast according to recent polls closer to the election. Mitchell switched gears in the last weeks of the race to become highly specific in terms of policies and initiatives she would undertake and it appears to have closed the gap.
While Steve Rowe's concession did not come until 11:30 PM along with a statement that he would not ask for a recount, the margin of victory for Mitchell was apparent in retrospect when most of her home turf towns in Kennebec County reported an edge that held up the rest of the evening. With 99.9% of precincts reporting, Mitchell won 28% of the vote and Rowe was only 1% behind. McGowan and Scarcelli each captured about 22% of the electorate.
Mitchell spoke to voters last evening at her victory party; "I am very grateful for this opportunity to represent the people of Maine in the forthcoming campaign. We have significant issues that require leadership that will work for all the people and during the next five months I will make every effort to listen to your needs and tell you how I will respond as governor."
Articulating her message clearly will be greatly needed as she opposes Peter Mills, the Republican nominee. An early shot across the bow of both major party campaigns came from a spokesman for Independent Elliot Cutler; "Here we have two State Senators, that have been involved in these problems all along, now barely winning their respective nominations with less that 30% of the vote...that sounds like an urgent need to put forward new solutions for 70% of Maine voters."
Voters Respond to Rowe's Resume
Steven Rowe won a convincing victory in yesterday's Democratic primary for governor. Swept into an early commanding lead, he led his nearest opponent, Elizabeth Mitchell by 13% by racking up 36% of the vote and a margin of almost 14,000 votes out of the 106,000 votes cast in the contest. With 99.9% of precincts reporting, Rowe received over 38,700 votes.
Further down in the results, Rosa Scarcelli trailed Libby Mitchell's 23% by 1% for 22% of the vote and Pat McGowan was held to under 18%. Steve Rowe won 10 out of 16 counties in the state and rolled up impressive margins in Cumberland and York counties. He led from the beginning of the election reporting and that lead never wavered. All his opponents had conceded by 9:30 PM.
The Rowe campaign seemed to be a steady march toward the nomination just like last night's win. The Rowe campaign staff also built the best inside game plan to identify their supporters and make sure they got to the polls according to one insider who additionally indicated that absolutely nothing was taken for granted.
Steven Rowe addressed his supporters at 10:00 PM; "I am extremely grateful for this vote of confidence and I have spoken by phone to Libby, Rosa, and Pat to thank them for a civil but solid campaign about ideas and solutions. I will strive to take the critical discussions in which we engaged into the general election. Our efforts must stay focused on our higher ideals and pragmatic approaches to the challenges that face Maine in order to win."
Rowe's victory statement seems to be addressed in particular to surprise Republican nominee, Paul LePage, who won an upset victory last evening and taunted the Democratic nominee as having a resume for the same old tax and spend politics as usual. But according to Andrew Smith, with Pine Exit Polling, that resume may well be Rowe's strength; "Our exit interviewing showed that a lot of Democratic primary voters were familiar with some aspect of Steve Rowe's background and over 75% the voters who cast ballots for other Democrats named him as their strong second choice. I think he moves into the general campaign with the benefit of party unity."
An Outside Win Propels Rosa Scarcelli Forward
'Rosa for ME' was last night's victory cry at a celebration of her win of the Democratic nomination as an outsider. Rosa Scarcelli ran reasonably well in southern Maine but also won Penobscot and Franklin counties to win 30% of the total statewide vote. She was trailed by Steve Rowe by 4 percentage points. Over 31,000 out of over 106,000 votes cast went to her. The other two "insider" candidates Mitchell and McGowan hovered around 21% - 22% with 99.9% of precincts reporting.
Scarcelli's campaign had been running into some obstacles until the convention. Inside staffers began to see that while her outsider message might appeal to voters in the general election, it was a growing liability within the confines of a primary that had a lot of dedicated volunteers working hard for known candidates with deep and long term party connections. Being less than enthusiastically received at the state convention was an eye-opener.
After the convention, Scarcelli began a more protracted effort to reach out to party members. While she did not stop meeting voters at diners or connecting with business people at service club events, she held daily hour-long online topic-specific conferences with many new media reporters and bloggers as well. Her openness and ability to engage in deeper discussions seemed to result in more positive background buzz for her outreach efforts.
However, Rosa Scarcelli was back as an outsider in her 10:00 PM victory statement; "I'm truly thankful that voters in this primary saw a need for change and a new perspective on how things need to work in state government. My campaign going forward will build on this new energy to reboot Augusta and make it work for all Maine citizens."
It appears to be a campaign of outsiders now with Scarcelli facing off against Republican nominee Les Otten. Veteran political observer, Shelia Samson noted; "The dynamics of this race are going to be pretty interesting. Here you have two strong business personalities with little in the way of government experience who are going to run up against a third outsider, Elliot Cutler, who can lay claim to both government and business competence. This appears to be the start of a three way race." |
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