It's Debate Week; Are you excited???

Happy October.  Did September slip away faster than usual?  I think it was only 30 days this year.  This first October week brings a real fascinating event...the first Presidential Debate of this election season.  That takes place Wednesday night at 9 o'clock on just about all the stations.

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to watch the beginning of it or not.  Since we get up around 4:30 in the mornings around here, I certainly won't see the whole thing.  I doubt, in spite of the hype we'll have to endure between now and then, there'll be much new revealed.  The interesting part might be how well the two candidates handle each other while on the same stage.

Both sides have already warned us not to expect too much.  The one who has the most to lose, I think, is Republican candidate Mitt Romney.  My mind, though, is already made up and I know for whom I'll be dropping my ballot into the box.  It'll be with some sadness, though.  I'm not yet convinced the Republican Party didn't fall flat on this one.

Meanwhile, here in Maine, Angus King has adopted an attitude he had promised he wouldn't adopt and that is the use of negative advertising.  He probably didn't have any choice, though, as advertising from a national political action committee has been hammering him.  For King, though, it is not the first time he broke a promise not to use negative advertising.  He has done it in past campaigns.

He still is leading in the polls, though.  I keep getting emails from the Republican Party and from the campaign of Charles Summers on how he is gaining momentum.  But unless you get emails from the Republicans, you probably don't know it.  With the newspaper owned by his good friend and the rest of the news media following the paper's lead, King is winning the publicity contest. 

King, Summers, and Democrat Cynthia Dill are vying for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Olympia Snowe,  I wonder if the Independents who also were trying to win the seat are still in the race.  If so, they need to get out there pretty soon.

I'm not sure anyone, except, perhaps, the Republican candidate Jon Courtney, is taking the First District U.S. House race too seriously.

One of the best races in Maine might be the Second District House race.  Kevin Raye (R) is challenging incumbant Mike Michaud (D).  I think Michaud only has one ad out there, and it concerns medical help for veterans, an excellent cause.  But what else has he done?  And that ad seemed remarkably similar to one he ran two years ago.

The election is still five weeks or so away but I'll be among those not voting in November.  My wife and I will take advantage of the early voting to cast our ballots.  I find it far easier to go to Town Hall and not the high school to vote, however I would be a firm supporter of canceling the early voting process. 

Dave