After the surprise news this morning that former governor Baldacci won’t be running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Senator Snowe, there is word out of Treasurer Bruce Poliquin’s camp this afternoon that they have more than enough signatures and he will be on the ballot for the GOP this June. And Senator Deb Plowman just sent out word that she had made the signature mark as well.
Poliquin and Plowman make five GOP candidates to formally qualify for the ballot, with a couple more candidates still collection signatures.
Democrats have just one candidate officially on the primary ballot, with several still trying to get in under the wire with the 2,000 signatures necessary to qualify.
With former governor King already set for a run at the seat, the field is nearly set, with signatures due tomorrow.
In
Rick Bennett (R) – the former senate president turned in 2,600 signatures on Monday, March 13, according to his campaign.
Scott D’Amboise (R) – the D’Amboise campaign said they submitted more than 2,100 signatures to the Secretary of State on Monday afternoon.
Matt Dunlap (D) – the former legislator and Secretary of State turned in the necessary 2,000-plus signatures to his former office on Wednesday morning.
Angus King (I) – the former governor is in, and I recommend he grab any remaining “Angus King” twitter handle combinations as soon as possible.
Deb Plowman (R) – the current Senator from Hampden turned in 2,200 signatures late today, according to a press release.
Bruce Poliquin (R) – the Treasurer had a grassroots effort to collect signature according to his campaign. Team Poliquin collected over 3,200 signatures, and according to the campaign, all but 200 were from a volunteer team.
Charlie Summers (R) – speaking of the Secretary of State, he turned in 2,400 signatures to his own office on Tuesday, March 14th.
Out
John Baldacci (D) – the former governor said today that a U.S. Senate bid is, “just not something that I’m prepared to do” – he’s out.
Chellie Pingree (D) – the current U.S. Representative will be running for re-election in congressional district 1.
Still Collecting
Cynthia Dill (D) – the state Senator is still collecting signatures.
William Schneider (R) – the Attorney General has not yet turned in the necessary signatures. Word from DC sources that he has plenty and will submit any time.
With the deadline essentially 24 hours away, it will be interesting to see whether the Democrats add a candidate or two to the mix, or if Dunlap is the guy for D’s.
Baldacci’s surprise exit this morning has obviously changed the dynamics of this race in a big way.
