Remember the good ole days in Maine when would-be politicians would run for office on nothing but grit – knowing they were acting against all odds but didn’t care?
When they didn’t “test the waters” and hire high-priced pollsters to gauge whether they could win?
When they eschewed political norms and didn’t care whether they lost?
Think Jim Longley, the no-name Lewiston insurance salesman who ignored his pledge to the incumbent, Democrat Gov. Ken Curtis, not to use his appointment as Curtis’ cost-containment commission chair as a perch for the purpose of running to succeed his boss.
Think Paul LePage, who grew up in a broken, violent home, came from nothing but street survival, worked his way up to managing a discount chain, was elected Waterville mayor, and then decided “screw it I’m running for governor.”
Longley ran as an independent, the first in Maine, LePage as a Republican. Both won on nothing but sheer will.
They ran to do something, to change government, to break the mold, to be brash. Come hell or high water.
The average voter likes people who run for a cause, sometimes even whether they agree with it or not, because a candidate who takes a bold chance, no matter the possibility of losing, is the subliminal definition of leadership.
Those models of principle, the ones who don’t care what happens at the craps table on election day, are in short supply these days.
Nowadays it seems finger-in-the-wind fantasizers play hide-and-seek with the proletariat just to get their 15 minutes.
It’s a pathetic mating dance, which they used to call playing footsie.
Think Dan Kleban, a Freeport Democrat brewer, who, bless his heart, is “considering” taking on GOP veteran U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
The problem for Democrats is that they repeatedly underestimate Collins, no matter who decides to become her sacrifice.
Think Sara Gideon, also of Freeport, a Democrat who figured she had it in the bag because she’d been promised gobs of cash but who in the final analysis became just another losing pol on the tall ash heap of Maine political history.
Now we have Kleban, the latest name who actually wants to be taken seriously by merely “considering” a shot at becoming a member of the country’s most exclusive political club?
If he’s really committed, it’s not hard to tell.
Kleban used an old fallback as an excuse to broadcast his suds, saying Democrats “reached out” to him to “consider” a Senate bid after the legacy press this week mentioned him as a potential gubernatorial candidate.
Pour me another one.
Lusting that they are for anyone to challenge Collins, one wonders who the main-stream Maine media will cook up next. Perhaps Shire native and man about town Bilbo Baggins? While he’s a bit long in the tooth, he still has better name recognition in Maine then Kleban the brewer.
Speaking of the legacy press, state Sen. Jim Libby, who’s again running for governor as a Republican, has reportedly hired former, old school Bangor Daily News reporter A.J. Higgins as his communications director.
Libby, who ran unsuccessfully in 2002, becomes one of the first contenders this time around to indicate he’s serious about staffing up, maybe almost Paul LePage serious.
Well, let’s not go overboard.
