In race to control the Senate, Maine is a wildcard
The Senate Democrats' campaign arm is all about promoting its women candidates this year, but in Maine, they're essentially ignoring one. Maine's female Democratic Senate candidate, meanwhile, is getting support from an independent group tied to Republicans.
Typical political strategies have been somewhat upended in Maine, thanks in large part to the wildcard in the Senate race -- independent candidate Angus King, who currently leads in the polls. The Maine race could help determine which party controls the Senate next year -- the problem is, King hasn't committed to helping either.
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For now, the assumption is that King -- a former governor who supports abortion rights and the Affordable Care Act but supported George W. Bush in 2000 -- will side with Democrats in the Senate. That may explain why the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), in spite of its emphasis on boosting the number of women in the Senate, hasn't endorsed Democratic candidate Cynthia Dill.
"We have not endorsed in that race," DSCC Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., told reporters last week. She focused on the fact that while Dill may not be winning in the polls, neither is the Republican candidate Charlie Summers.
"Mitch McConnell had Maine in his back pocket months ago," Murray said, referring to the Senate Minority Leader. "Today that is not the case."
Maine typically sends Republicans -- albeit, moderate Republicans -- to the Senate. When Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe announced her retirement, Democrats saw an opening. Last week the DSCC started airing an ad that says Summers "marches with the Washington extremists," according to the Bangor Daily News.
Dill is brushing off the slight but sticking with the Democrats' message that voters should send more women to the Senate. At a forum sponsored by the Maine Women's Policy Center Thursday night, Dill said she agreed with the notion that Washington is "broken," but argued it's working perfectly fine for "older, very wealthy white men."
"While I may agree that the system is broken, I don't think the system is broken for guys like Angus King," Dill said, the Portland Press Herald reported. "We need more women."
With polls showing Dill trailing far behind both King and Summers, King is more concerned with fending off the Republican, who appears to be cutting into the independent frontrunner's lead. King's campaign also turned to women's issues to do that. At a press conference Thursday morning, King's wife Mary Hermon stressed King's pro-abortion rights stance while charging that Summers is a flip-flopper on the issue.
Summers' campaign insisted that the Republican candidate has always been in favor of abortion rights -- in spite of a statement his campaign gave a local newspaper during the GOP primary that said he supported limited access to abortions. The campaign said its staff made a mistake in giving the statement to the newspaper.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm for Senate Republicans, has spent close to $1 million attacking both King and Dill, though they've primarily focused on King.
One of their ideological allies, however, has spent more than $300,000 supporting Dill, the Democrat.
The Washington-based political action committee Maine Freedom has invested in efforts to support the Democrat, presumably to siphon off King's supporters. In documents filed with the Federal Election Commission, the group identifies its treasurer as Michael G. Adams, who once worked for the Republican Governors Association.
Now that King's strong lead appears to be shrinking, other outside groups are jumping into the fray. Americans Elect, the group that unsuccessfully tried to launch a third party candidate for president, is spending $500,000 to run ads backing King, the Bangor Daily News reports.
