Gubernatorial Primary

It's still a month and a half away, but I was thinking about the upcoming state primary elections this past weekend.  Both parties have candidates vying for the gubernatorial nomination for the parties, but I'm a registered Republican so that's the one I'm trying to sort out right now.

Current Gov. John Baldacci has reached his term limit so there will be a new governor.

It seems to me that no matter which Democrat wins that party's nomination, if that person is elected we'll just be continuing the fall into the abyss of a rotten economy we've been experiencing for the past 40 years or so.  It'll be just more of the same but with a different name in the Blaine House.  And the name will be all that's different.

There are seven candidates running for the Republican nomination and one of them is also just more of the same.  A quick check of the state ballot web site shows only five. 

I like what two or three of the candidates have been saying in both their advertisements, although I must admit I haven't seen ads from two or three, and in radio and TV interviews. 

But news out of Waterville this past week may have turned my tide to Paul LePage.  He not only says much of what I want to hear about issues, but he also walks the talk as Mayor of Waterville, a Republican who has apparently maintained a workable fiscal policy in spite of being a mayor in a Democrat stronghold.  The news concerned his stand on the city budget and he says he'll veto it if it contains tax increases.  It's not the right economy, he says, to be taking more money from the residents.

Three others keep rolling around in my head.  Alphabetically they are Steve Abbott, Bill Beardsley, and Bruce Poliquin.  I like what I hear them say, but "saying" is easy and too many times we've liked what candidates have said only to watch them literally change their stripes as elected officials. 

My final decision is still in the future and I'll probably vascillate among the four many times between now and the first of June.  (For family reasons I'll have to vote early.)  If, however, the election were today, I know where my mark would be.

I'll keep you posted on my changes.

GiM